You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Editorial commentary
Chitotriosidase: shucking the role of microglia in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  1. Henrik Zetterberg1,2,3,4
  1. 1 Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Mölndal, Sweden
  2. 2 Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Mölndal, Sweden
  3. 3 Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK
  4. 4 UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Henrik Zetterberg, Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Mölndal S-431 80, Sweden; henrik.zetterberg{at}clinchem.gu.se

https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2017-317379

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) chitotriosidase concentration reflects microglial activation in the spinal cord of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

    Chitin is a long-chain insoluble carbohydrate polymer that is one of the most abundant organic materials in the biosphere, second only to cellulose.1 It occurs as a key structural molecule in the exoskeleton of invertebrates and cell walls of fungi. It builds up the shells of oysters and clams. Its durable properties are the subject of intense study in biotechnology and materials science. There has been a long-standing assumption that chitin plays no role in vertebrate biology, but this is starting to change; expression of chitin in vertebrate tissues has been verified, and potential biological functions of the polymer in higher organisms are just being unravelled.1

    Chitinases constitute a widely expressed family of hydrolases that cleave chitins. Insects produce chitinases to facilitate moulting. Micro-organisms produce them to digest nutrients. The function of chitinases in vertebrates remains unclear, but potentially they play a role in the innate immune …

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Contributors HZ wrote the commentary.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

    Linked Articles

    • Neuro-inflammation
      Chitotriosidase (CHIT1) is increased in microglia and macrophages in spinal cord of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cerebrospinal fluid levels correlate with disease severity and progression
      Petra Steinacker Federico Verde Lubin Fang Emily Feneberg Patrick Oeckl Sigrun Roeber Sarah Anderl-Straub Adrian Danek Janine Diehl-Schmid Klaus Fassbender Klaus Fliessbach Hans Foerstl Armin Giese Holger Jahn Jan Kassubek Johannes Kornhuber G Bernhard Landwehrmeyer Martin Lauer Elmar Hans Pinkhardt Johannes Prudlo Angela Rosenbohm Anja Schneider Matthias L Schroeter Hayrettin Tumani Christine A F von Arnim Jochen Weishaupt Patrick Weydt Albert C Ludolph Deniz Yilmazer Hanke Markus Otto FTLDc study group Nibal Ackl Sönke Arlt Franziska Albrecht Sandrine Bisenius Svenja Gehlhaar Jakob Gleiss Theresa Halder Jan Lehmbeck Leonie Lampe Johannes Levin Manuel Maler Felix Oberhauser Timo Oberstein Catharina Prix Theresa Raiser Tanja Richter-Schmiedinger Dorothee Saur Lisa Schachner Sonja Schönecker Katharina Schuemberg Gisela Stenglein-Krapf Elisabeth Wlasich
      Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry 2017; 89 239-247 Published Online First: 15 Nov 2017. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2017-317138