Neurobiology of axonal transport defects in motor neuron diseases: Opportunities for translational research?

Intracellular trafficking of cargoes is an essential process to maintain the structure and function of all mammalian cell types, but especially of neurons because of their extreme axon/dendrite polarisation. Axonal transport mediates the movement of cargoes such as proteins, mRNA, lipids, membrane-bound vesicles and organelles that are mostly synthesised in the cell body and in doing so is responsible for their correct spatiotemporal distribution in the axon, for example at specialised sites such as nodes of Ranvier and synaptic terminals. In addition, axonal transport maintains the essential long-distance communication between the cell body and synaptic terminals that allows neurons to react to their surroundings via trafficking of for example signalling endosomes.

Axonal transport defects are a common observation in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, and mutations in components of the axonal transport machinery have unequivocally shown that impaired axonal transport can cause neurodegeneration (reviewed in El-Kadi et al., 2007, De Vos et al., 2008; Millecamps and Julien, 2013). Here we review our current understanding of axonal transport defects and the role they play in motor neuron diseases (MNDs) with a specific focus on the most common form of MND, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).