Reply to: Questioning the cycad theory of Kii ALS-PDC causation

• Authors: MENSIKOVA Katerina; ROSALES Raymond; COLOSIMO Carlo; SPENCER Peter; LANNUZEL Annie; UGAWA Yoshikazu; SASAKI Ryogen; GIMENEZ-ROLDAN Santiago; MATEJ Radoslav; TUCKOVA Lucie; HRABOS Dominik; KOLARIKOVA Kristyna; VODICKA Radek; VRTEL Radek; STRNAD Miroslav; HLUSTIK Petr; OTRUBA Pavel; PROCHAZKA Martin; BAREŠ Martin; BOLUDA Susana; BUEE Luc; RANSMAYR Gerhard; KANOVSKY Petr
• Year of publication: 2024
• Type: Article in Periodical
• Magazine / Source: NATURE REVIEWS NEUROLOGY
• MU Faculty or unit: Faculty of Medicine
• Web: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41582-024-00938-y
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41582-024-00938-y
• Keywords: Kii ALS–PDC causation; cycad theory
• Description: We read with great interest the Correspondence to our recent Review (Menšíková, K. et al. Endemic parkinsonism: clusters, biology and clinical features. Nat. Rev. Neurol. 19, 599–616 (2023)) by Kokubo and colleagues (Kokubo, Y., Morimoto, S. & Yoshida, M. Questioning the cycad theory of Kii ALS–PDC causation. Nat. Rev. Neurol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-024-00936-0 (2024)). We are aware that Kokubo — together with the late S. Kuzuhara — systematically studied amyotrophic lateral sclerosis–parkinsonism–dementia complex (ALS–PDC) on the Kii Peninsula for more than 30 years. They authored and co-authored numerous papers about this endemic disease, some of them with one of us (R.S.). We therefore considered the comments raised by Kokubo et al. carefully, and here we respond to the questions that they have raised.