BTBD10, an Akt interactor, activates Akt by decreasing the protein phosphatase 2A-mediated dephosphorylation and inactivation of Akt. Overexpression of BTBD10 suppresses motor neuron death that is induced by a familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-linked superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) mutant, G93A-SOD1 in vitro. In this study, we further investigated the BTBD10-mediated suppression of motor neuron death. We found that the small interfering RNA-mediated inhibition of BTBD10 expression led to the death of cultured motor neurons. In Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), disruption of the btbd-10 gene caused not only loss of neurons, including both motor and touch-receptor neurons, but also a locomotion defect. In addition, we found that the expression of BTBD10 was generally decreased in the motor neurons from patients of sporadic ALS and transgenic mice overexpressing G93A-SOD1 (G93A-SOD1-transgenic mice). Collectively, these results suggest that the reduced expression of BTBD10 leads to motor neuron death both in vitro and in vivo. A gain-of-toxic-function of an intracellular molecule or a loss of normal function of an essential intracellular molecule, including an intracellular prosurvival signal, contributes to cell death. The Akt family of proteins (Akt1, 2 and 3 in mammalian cells) provides a major intracellular prosurvival signal by phosphorylating many target proteins. 1 The major upstream activator of Akt is the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-mediated signal that activates Akt by phosphorylation. Akt's activity is also regulated by protein phosphatase-mediated dephosphorylation. 2 In our previous study, we showed that BTBD10 activates Akt by inhibiting protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A)-mediated Akt dephosphorylation. 3 Recent advances in genetics and neuroscience have suggested that both gains of toxic and/or losses of normal function of intracellular molecules contribute to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a representative motor neuron-specific neurodegenerative disease. 4 Approximately 10% of ALS cases are genetically inherited. 4,5 Dominant mutations in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene (the first identified familial ALS (FALS)-linked gene) account for approximately 20% of FALS cases. The gain-of-toxic-function of SOD1, caused by a FALS-linked mutation, is thought to be closely linked to the ALS pathogenesis. The second identified FALS-linked gene, a FALS-linked mutation of which results in an autosomal-recessive phenotype, encodes a protein named alsin. 6,7 Loss of alsin function, caused by a FALSlinked mutation, leads to the abnormal endolysosomal trafficking and contributes to motor neuron death. 8 We have independently shown that wild-type alsin suppresses mutant SOD1-induced neuronal cell death by activating a prosurvival pathway involving Rac1, PI3K and Akt3, and that FALS-linked mutations in the gene abolish the alsin function. 9,10 To further characterize the Akt-mediated prosurvival pathways that are linked to the ALS pathogenesi...