Correction: A rare missense variant impacting NEK1 kinase function is associated with ALS

Correction: Acta Neuropathol Commun 14, 135 (2026)

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40478-026-02351-6

In this article [1], the figure citations for Figs. 4 and 5, and 6 in the paragraph “Notably, while NEK1 kinase activity has been proposed. translocation in control MNs” were incorrect.

Notably, while NEK1 kinase activity has been proposed as the principal pathomechanism in NEK1-ALS [8], this hypothesis still required in vivo confirmation. NEK1 p.N598S MN cultures exhibited increased susceptibility to DNA damage and ciliary abnormalities (Fig. 4C-G), both processes known to depend on NEK1 kinase func­tion [9, 15]. This led us to hypothesize that the p.N598S variant might directly impact NEK1 kinase activity. To test this, we quantified the phosphorylation of the estab­lished direct NEK1 target YAP1 at tyrosine 407 (pTyr407) [16]. Both p.N598S- and p.R812*-mutant MN cultures showed reduced YAP1 pTyr407 levels compared with their isogenic counterpart (Fig. 5A), supporting reduced kinase activity. This was further assessed in whole lysates from MN cultures, and in immunopurified NEK1-WT and p.N598S. Overall kinase activity was markedly reduced in both p.N598S- and p.R812*-mutant cultures compared to wild-type MNs (Fig. 5B). Direct measure­ment of purified NEK1 confirmed that the p.N598S vari­ant displayed reduced kinase activity compared with wild-type NEK1 (Fig. 5C).

To further establish causality, we treated MNs derived from three healthy donors with the NEK1-specific inhibi­tor BSc5367. Exposure to 11.5 nM BSc5367 for 48 h sig­nificantly reduced kinase activity (Fig. 6A), decreased YAP1 phosphorylation at Tyr407 (Fig. 6B), and increased γH2A.X levels (Fig. 6C). Most notably, pharmacological inhibition of NEK1 was also sufficient to induce TDP- 43 nucleocytoplasmic translocation in control MNs (Fig. 6D).

These citations have now been corrected in the original publication.

The original article has been corrected.