A 50-year-old woman with a 20-year history of gait instability presented with new-onset vertigo and oscillopsia. Examination revealed bilateral vestibular loss, cerebellar ataxia, sensory neuropathy, a "yes-yes" head tremor, nystagmus and a family history of a similar syndrome. Genetic testing for cerebellar ataxia with neuropathy and bilateral vestibular areflexia syndrome (RFC1) was negative, but whole exome sequencing identified a novel mutation in the DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) gene, broadening the differential diagnosis for this phenotype.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic pain often includes periods of transient amelioration and even remission that alternate with severe relapsing pain. While most research on chronic pain has focused on pain development and maintenance, there is a critical unmet need to better understand the mechanisms that underlie pain remission and relapse. We found that interleukin (IL)-10, a pain resolving cytokine, is produced by resident macrophages in the spinal meninges during remission from pain and signaled to IL-10 receptor-expressing sensory neurons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF