Neuronal polyunsaturated fatty acids are protective in FTD/ALS

We report a conserved transcriptomic signature of reduced fatty acid and lipid metabolism gene expression in human post-mortem ALS spinal cord and a Drosophila model of the most common genetic cause of FTD/ALS, a repeat expansion in C9orf72. To investigate lipid alterations, we performed lipidomics on C9FTD/ALS iPSC-neurons and post-mortem FTLD brain tissue. This revealed a common and specific reduction in phospholipid species containing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). To determine whether this PUFA deficit contributes to neurodegeneration, we fed C9FTD/ALS flies PUFAs, which yielded a modest increase in survival. However, increasing PUFA levels specifically in neurons of the C9orf72 flies, by overexpressing fatty acid desaturase enzymes, led to a substantial extension of lifespan. Neuronal overexpression of fatty acid desaturases also suppressed stressor induced neuronal death in C9FTD/ALS patient iPSC-neurons. These data implicate neuronal fatty acid saturation in the pathogenesis of FTD/ALS and suggest that interventions to increase PUFA levels specifically within neurons will be beneficial.