Highlights d Nuclei without nuclear TDP-43 were sorted from postmortem FTD-ALS human brains d Loss of nuclear TDP-43 was associated with widespread transcriptome changes d Loss of nuclear TDP-43 was linked to chromatin decondensation at LINEs d Loss of nuclear TDP-43 enhanced LINE retrotransposition in vitro

Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is closely associated with accumulation of pathologic tau aggregates in the form of neurofibrillary tangles. We found that a p.Asp395Gly mutation in VCP was associated with dementia characterized neuropathologically by neuronal vacuoles and neurofibrillary tangles. Moreover, VCP appeared to exhibit tau disaggregase activity in vitro which was impaired by the p.Asp395Gly mutation. Additionafsupplly, intracerebral microinjection of pathologic tau led to increased tau aggregates in p.Asp395Gly VCP knock-in mice compared to injected wild-type mice. These findings suggest that p.Asp395Gly VCP is an autosomal dominant genetic mutation associated with neurofibrillary degeneration in part due to reduced tau disaggregation, raising the possibility that VCP may represent a therapeutic target for the treatment of AD.

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