Publications by authors named "Jan Reiners"

Usher syndrome (USH) is the most frequent cause of combined deaf-blindness in man. It is clinically and genetically heterogeneous and at least 12 chromosomal loci are assigned to three clinical USH types, namely USH1A-G, USH2A-C, USH3A (Davenport, S.L.

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Usher syndrome (USH) is the most frequent cause of combined deaf-blindness in man. USH is clinically and genetically heterogeneous with at least 11 chromosomal loci assigned to the three USH types (USH1A-G, USH2A-C, USH3A). Although the different USH types exhibit almost the same phenotype in human, the identified USH genes encode for proteins which belong to very different protein classes and families.

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Purpose: The human Usher syndrome (USH) is the most common form of deaf-blindness. Usher type I (USH1), the most severe form, is characterized by profound congenital deafness, constant vestibular dysfunction and prepubertal onset of retinitis pigmentosa. Five corresponding genes of the seven USH1 genes have been cloned over the years.

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Defects in myosin VIIa, harmonin (a PDZ domain protein), cadherin 23, protocadherin 15 and sans (a putative scaffolding protein), underlie five forms of Usher syndrome type I (USH1). Mouse mutants for all these proteins exhibit disorganization of their hair bundle, which is the mechanotransduction receptive structure of the inner ear sensory cells, the cochlear and vestibular hair cells. We have previously demonstrated that harmonin interacts with cadherin 23 and myosin VIIa.

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Purpose: Human Usher syndrome is the most common form of combined deafness and blindness. Usher type I (USH1), the most severe form, is characterized by profound congenital deafness, constant vestibular dysfunction, and prepubertal onset retinitis pigmentosa. Previous studies have shown that the USH1-proteins myosin VIIa, harmonin, and cadherin 23 interact and form a functional network during hair cell differentiation in the inner ear.

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Deaf-blindness in three distinct genetic forms of Usher type I syndrome (USH1) is caused by defects in myosin VIIa, harmonin and cadherin 23. Despite being critical for hearing, the functions of these proteins in the inner ear remain elusive. Here we show that harmonin, a PDZ domain-containing protein, and cadherin 23 are both present in the growing stereocilia and that they bind to each other.

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