A Turkish trichothiodystrophy patient with homozygous XPD mutation and genotype-phenotype relationship.

Trichothiodystrophy (TTD) is a rare, recessive condition involving multiple organs and systems. Four genes associated with nuclear excision repair have been described in the molecular etiology of TTD. There is a significant heterogeneity of clinical and laboratory findings of TTD, even in individuals carrying the same mutation.

Presence of ATM protein and residual kinase activity correlates with the phenotype in ataxia-telangiectasia: a genotype-phenotype study.

Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder with multisystem involvement and cancer predisposition, caused by mutations in the A-T mutated (ATM) gene. To study genotype-phenotype correlations, we evaluated the clinical and laboratory data of 51 genetically proven A-T patients, and additionally measured ATM protein expression and kinase activity. Patients without ATM kinase activity showed the classical phenotype.

A novel mutation F826L in the human androgen receptor in partial androgen insensitivity syndrome; increased NH2-/COOH-terminal domain interaction and TIF2 co-activation.

A novel mutation F826L located within the ligand binding domain (LBD) of the human androgen receptor (AR) was investigated. This mutation was found in a boy with severe penoscrotal hypospadias (classified as 46,XY DSD). The AR mutant F826L appeared to be indistinguishable from the wild-type AR, with respect to ligand binding affinity, transcriptional activation of MMTV-luciferase and ARE2-TATA-luciferase reporter genes, protein level in genital skin fibroblasts (GSFs), and sub-cellular distribution in transfected cells.

Incidence of DNA repair deficiency disorders in western Europe: Xeroderma pigmentosum, Cockayne syndrome and trichothiodystrophy.

Laboratory diagnosis for DNA repair diseases has been performed in western Europe from the early seventies for xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and from the mid-eighties for Cockayne syndrome (CS) and trichothiodystrophy (TTD). The combined data from the DNA repair diagnostic centres in France, (West) Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have been investigated for three groups of diseases: XP (including XP-variant), CS (including XP/CS complex) and TTD. Incidences in western Europe were for the first time established at 2.

Prenatal diagnosis of xeroderma pigmentosum and trichothiodystrophy in 76 pregnancies at risk.

Objective: Evaluation of results in a consecutive series of 76 prenatal diagnoses for xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and trichothiodystrophy (TTD) made since 1977.

Methods: UV-induced DNA repair synthesis was assessed by the autoradiographic measurement of the incorporation of (3)H-thymidine.

Results: XP was diagnosed in 19 of the 76 investigated pregnancies at risk; cultured chorionic villus (CV) cells were used in 33 pregnancies with ten affected fetuses and cultured amniocytes in 43 pregnancies with nine affected fetuses.

First reported patient with human ERCC1 deficiency has cerebro-oculo-facio-skeletal syndrome with a mild defect in nucleotide excision repair and severe developmental failure.

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is a genome caretaker mechanism responsible for removing helix-distorting DNA lesions, most notably ultraviolet photodimers. Inherited defects in NER result in profound photosensitivity and the cancer-prone syndrome xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) or two progeroid syndromes: Cockayne and trichothiodystrophy syndromes. The heterodimer ERCC1-XPF is one of two endonucleases required for NER.

GM1 gangliosidosis: molecular analysis of nine patients and development of an RT-PCR assay for GLB1 gene expression profiling.

The human GLB1 gene produces two alternatively spliced transcripts that encode the lysosomal enzyme beta-galactosidase (GLB1) and the elastin binding protein (EBP). Mutations at the GLB1 locus, which are responsible for the storage disorder GM1 gangliosidosis, may affect either both proteins or GLB1 only. The EBP, when affected, contributes to specific features of GM1 gangliosidosis patients, such as cardiomyopathy and connective-tissue abnormalities.

A new progeroid syndrome reveals that genotoxic stress suppresses the somatotroph axis.

XPF-ERCC1 endonuclease is required for repair of helix-distorting DNA lesions and cytotoxic DNA interstrand crosslinks. Mild mutations in XPF cause the cancer-prone syndrome xeroderma pigmentosum. A patient presented with a severe XPF mutation leading to profound crosslink sensitivity and dramatic progeroid symptoms.

Mutations in the C7orf11 (TTDN1) gene in six nonphotosensitive trichothiodystrophy patients: no obvious genotype-phenotype relationships.

Trichothiodystrophy (TTD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder whose defining feature is brittle hair. Associated clinical symptoms include physical and mental retardation of different severity, ichthyosis, premature aging, and, in half of the patients, photosensitivity. Recently, C7orf11 (TTDN1) was identified as the first disease gene for the nonphotosensitive form of TTD, being mutated in two unrelated cases and in an Amish kindred.

Prenatal diagnosis of the Cockayne syndrome: survey of 15 years experience.

Objective: Evaluation of results in a consecutive series of 29 prenatal diagnoses for the Cockayne syndrome.

Methods: Recovery of DNA-synthesis in UV-irradiated cultured fetal cells was measured by scintillation counting of incorporated (3)H-thymidine. Semiquantitative autoradiographic assessment of the recovery of RNA-synthesis (RecRS) was used as an adjunctive method.

The cystathionine beta-synthase variant c.844_845ins68 protects against CNS demyelination in X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy.

The clinical course of X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is of unexplained heterogeneity. Major X-ALD phenotypes are the progressive childhood cerebral form (CCALD) with early confluent cerebral demyelination and the adult-onset adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN). Adult AMN may present with demyelinated foci of the CNS (adrenoleukomyeloneuropathy, ALMN) or without ("pure" AMN).

A homozygous nonsense mutation in the methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase gene (MCEE) results in mild methylmalonic aciduria.

Methylmalonic aciduria (MMA-uria) is an autosomal recessive inborn error of amino acid metabolism, involving valine, threonine, isoleucine, and methionine. This organic aciduria may present in the neonatal period with life-threatening metabolic acidosis, hyperammonemia, feeding difficulties, pancytopenia, and coma. Most affected patients have mutations in the methylmalonyl-coenzyme A (methylmalonyl-CoA) mutase gene.

Regulation of the cell swelling-activated chloride conductance by cholesterol-rich membrane domains.

Aim: The role of high cholesterol-containing microdomains in the signal transduction cascade leading to the activation of volume-regulated anion channels (VRACs) was studied.

Methods: Osmotic cell swelling-induced efflux of 125I- was determined in human epithelial Intestine 407 cells and in skin fibroblasts obtained from healthy controls or Niemann-Pick type C (NPC) patients. Cellular cholesterol content was modulated by pre-incubation with 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin in the presence of acceptor lipid vesicles.

Senescence-associated beta-galactosidase is lysosomal beta-galactosidase.

Replicative senescence limits the proliferation of somatic cells passaged in culture and may reflect cellular aging in vivo. The most widely used biomarker for senescent and aging cells is senescence-associated beta-galactosidase (SA-beta-gal), which is defined as beta-galactosidase activity detectable at pH 6.0 in senescent cells, but the origin of SA-beta-gal and its cellular roles in senescence are not known.

Methionine metabolism and phenotypic variability in X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy.

A combined genotype of polymorphisms of methionine metabolism has been associated with CNS demyelination in methotrexate-treated patients. Within a sample of 86 patients with X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy, this genotype was overrepresented in a subgroup of 15 patients with adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) with CNS demyelination (adrenoleukomyeloneuropathy) in comparison to 49 AMN patients without CNS demyelination ("pure" AMN; p = 0.002), suggesting that methionine metabolism might contribute to the phenotypic variability in adrenoleukodystrophy.

Prenatal diagnosis of citrullinemia and argininosuccinic aciduria: evidence for a transmission ratio distortion in citrullinemia.

Background: In the course of 25 years, we have experienced a high rate of affected fetuses in the prenatal diagnosis of citrullinemia.

Methods And Results: Ninety-one pregnancies at 1 in 4 risk were tested; 36 were diagnosed as affected (39.5%; P = 0.

Hyperechogenic fetal bowel: counseling difficulties.

The detection of echodense fetal bowel on ultrasound examination in the second trimester of pregnancy justifies invasive procedures such as amniocentesis to detect an underlying cause. We present a case in which initial tests identified only one mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR)-gene of the fetus, the family history being negative for CF. Strongly reduced intestinal enzyme activities suggested intestinal obstruction and further increased the estimated risk for CF.

Possible genotype-phenotype correlations in children with mild clinical course of Canavan disease.

Canavan disease is characterised as a rare, neurodegenerative disease that usually causes death in early childhood. It is an autosomal recessive disorder due to an aspartoacylase (ASPA) deficiency. The causative gene has been mapped to chromosome 17 pter-p13.

Loss of ZMPSTE24 (FACE-1) causes autosomal recessive restrictive dermopathy and accumulation of Lamin A precursors.

Restrictive dermopathy (RD) is characterized by intrauterine growth retardation, tight and rigid skin with prominent superficial vessels, bone mineralization defects, dysplastic clavicles, arthrogryposis and early neonatal death. In two patients affected with RD, we recently reported two different heterozygous splicing mutations in the LMNA gene, leading to the production and accumulation of truncated Prelamin A. In other patients, a single nucleotide insertion was identified in ZMPSTE24.

Functional analysis of a novel androgen receptor mutation, Q902K, in an individual with partial androgen insensitivity.

Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is caused by defects in the androgen receptor (AR) that render the AR partially or completely inactive. As a result, embryonic sex differentiation is impaired. Here, we describe a novel mutation in the AR found in a patient with partial AIS.

Molecular and functional analysis of SUMF1 mutations in multiple sulfatase deficiency.

Multiple sulfatase deficiency (MSD) is a rare disorder characterized by impaired activity of all known sulfatases. The gene mutated in this disease is SUMF1, which encodes a protein involved in a post-translational modification at the catalytic site of all sulfatases that is necessary for their function. SUMF1 strongly enhances the activity of sulfatases when coexpressed with sulfatase in Cos-7 cells.

[From gene to disease; Krabbe disease and galactosylceramidase deficiency].

Krabbe disease is a devastating lysosomal storage disease with autosomal recessive inheritance. Early symptoms of leukodystrophy, such as irritability and hypertonicity, appear at 3 to 6 months of age, but progress rapidly to severe mental and motor deterioration and death in the second year. The disease is caused by the deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme galactosylceramidase, which is in turn caused by mutations in the GALC gene.

Glycerol kinase deficiency: residual activity explained by reduced transcription and enzyme conformation.

Four unrelated patients with glyceroluria ranging from 7 to 170 mmol/l were studied. The activity of glycerol kinase (GK) in cultured fibroblasts was determined with a specific enzyme assay and with two indirect methods, that is, incorporation into macromolecules of [(14)C] from [(14)C]glycerol and its oxidation to [(14)C]CO(2). Exon amplification and RT-PCR were used to identify mutations.