Mouse models of frontotemporal dementia: A comparison of phenotypes with clinical symptomatology

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the second most common cause of young onset dementia. It is increasingly recognized that there is a clinical continuum between FTD and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). At a clinical, pathological and genetic level there is much heterogeneity in FTD, meaning that our understanding of this condition, pathophysiology and development of treatments has been limited. A number of mouse models focusing predominantly on recapitulating neuropathological and molecular changes of disease have been developed, with most transgenic lines expressing a single specific protein or genetic mutation. Together with the species-typical presentation of functional deficits, this makes the direct translation of results from these models to humans difficult. However, understanding the phenotypical presentations in mice and how they relate to clinical symptomology in humans is essential for advancing translation. Here we review current mouse models in FTD and compare their phenotype to the clinical presentation in patients.