A repeat expansion in GOLGA8A is a major risk factor for atypical frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin-positive inclusions

Journal article

Atypical frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin-positive inclusions (aFTLD-U) is neuropathologically characterized by aggregation of the FET family of proteins and clinically manifests as sporadic young-onset frontotemporal dementia. Here we describe a major risk locus on chr15q14 identified through a genome-wide association study in 59 pathologically confirmed aFTLD-U cases and 3,153 controls (lead single nucleotide polymorphism rs549846383, P = 5.85 × 10−21, odds ratio 26.7). When combined with data from 28 additional aFTLD-U cases, 3,712 controls and 3,215 individuals with other neurodegenerative diseases and by leveraging in-house and public long-read genome sequencing data from 1,715 individuals, we identified a tandem repeat expansion on the associated haplotypes in an intron of GOLGA8A. We found variation in repeat length, motif length, and motif sequence, with long CT-dimer expansions strongly associated with aFTLD-U. Although the functional consequence of this repeat remains unknown, its presence in nearly 60% of aFTLD-U cases points to a fundamental role in disease pathogenesis.

Authors: De Coster, W; Van den Broeck, M; Baker, M; Ghayal, NB; Wynants, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Journal: Nature Genetics
• Pages: 1-11
• Publication date: 2026-03-12
• Acceptance date: 2026-02-09
• DOI: 10.1038/s41588-026-02537-7
• EISSN: 1546-1718
• ISSN: 1061-4036
• Language: English
• Keywords: Genome-wide association study; Frontotemporal dementia; Haplotype; Trinucleotide repeat expansion; Locus (genetics); Frontotemporal lobar degeneration; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Odds ratio