TARDBP and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: We advance the novel hypothesis that a broad and morbid loss of control of RTEs contributes to the cumulative degeneration observed with TDP-43 protein aggregation pathology that is observed in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, including ALS and FTLD, and that this loss of control of RTEs is the result of a negative impact of TDP-43 pathology on general RTE suppression mechanisms that are most prevalently relied upon in somatic tissue such as the brain.