Biomarkers to track progress of genetic frontotemporal dementia

Frontotemporal dementia is a neurodegenerative disorder characterised by loss of neurons in the frontal and temporal lobes. It is a common cause of early-onset dementia but can also start in older age. It presents with behavioural symptoms or language disturbance (primary progressive aphasia), and patients can also develop symptoms of motor neurone disease. It is a highly heritable disease with one third of patients having a family history and a mutation in one of three genes. The ideal time to treat neurodegenerative disease may be before clinical presentation, at a point where the minimum of irreversible neuronal loss has occurred and cognitive function is still preserved.