Abstract
Ubiquitin (UB)-immunoreactive filamentous inclusions, absent in normal cases and in
any other disorder, have been found in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS) and it has been suggested that they may be characteristic of this disorder.
However, there has been no study of UB in ALS skin. We made a quantitative immunohistochemical
study of the expression of UB in the skin from 19 patients with sporadic ALS and 19
control subjects. The proportion of UB-positive (UB+) cells in the epidermis in ALS
patients was significantly higher (p<0.001) than in controls. There was a significant positive relationship (r=0.92, p<0.001) between the proportion and duration of illness in ALS patients. The optical
density of UB+ cells in the epidermis in ALS patients is markedly stronger (p<0.001) than in controls. There was a significant positive relation (r=0.58, p<0.01) between the immunoreactivity and duration of illness in ALS patients. These
data suggest that changes of UB in ALS skin are related to the disease process and
that metabolic alterations of UB may take place in the skin of patients with ALS.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 20, 2010
Accepted:
August 23,
2010
Received in revised form:
July 18,
2010
Received:
March 7,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
