ATXN2 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: ATXN2 is a large pleiotropic gene involved in various age-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and inflammation (Odegaard and Chawla 2013; Kraja et al., 2014; Laffita-Mesa et al., 2021).