Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0004134 (ataxia)
 15,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Lipopigments with fingerprint profiles in eccrine sweat gland epithelial cells are regular findings in childhood NCL. They have also been described in adult NCL (ANCL) a few times, but not consistently. However, they have been considered nonspecific when not matched by similar abnormal profiles in noneccrine sweat gland epithelial cells. These conflicting reports may pose a diagnostic dilemma as outlined in the following 2 examples. Patient 1 is a 20-year-old man who developed severe tetraparesis and dementia over 2 years. Electroencephalogram was abnormal with epileptiform discharges. The patient died at age 21 years without autopsy; no other relatives are known to have a similar disease. Patient 2, a 49-year-old woman, developed ataxia and gait abnormalities when 44 years old, and, later, psychosis and dementia. The patient is still alive; no other family members are similarly affected. Both patient lacked evidence of a retinopathy clinically, funduscopically, and by electroretinography. Both patients showed lipopigments within secretory eccrine sweat gland epithelial cells which harbored unequivocal fingerprint profiles, but not within noneccrine sweat gland cells. Regular lipofuscin was observed in other cells, including skeletal muscle fibers of patient 2.
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PMID:Significance of lipopigments with fingerprint profiles in eccrine sweat gland epithelial cells. 766 28

Finland and the Finns have been the subject of numerous genetic and genealogical studies, owing to enrichment of certain rare hereditary disorders in the Finnish population. Two types of NCL have so-far been found almost exclusively in Finland: Finnish variant late infantile NCL, vLINCL (CLN5), and the Northern epilepsy syndrome or Progressive epilepsy with mental retardation, EPMR (CLN8). The first symptoms of Finnish vLINCL are concentration problems or motor clumsiness by 3 to 6 years of age, followed by mental retardation, visual failure, ataxia, myoclonus, and epilepsy. Northern epilepsy, the newest member of the NCL family with the most protracted course, is characterized by the onset of generalized seizures between 5 and 10 years of age and subsequent progressive mental retardation. Visual problems are slight and late, while myoclonus has not been observed. Both the Finnish vLINCL and Northern epilepsy are pathologically characterized by intraneuronal cytoplasmic deposits of autofluorescent granules which are Luxol fast blue-, PAS-, and Sudan black B-positive in paraffin sections. In Northern epilepsy the intraneuronal storage process and neuronal destruction are generally of mild degree but highly selective and, in contrast to other forms of childhood onset NCL, the cerebellar cortex is relatively spared. By electron microscopy the storage bodies mainly contain rectilinear complex type and fingerprint profiles in Finnish vLINCL and structures resembling curvilinear profiles in Northern epilepsy. Mitochondrial ATP synthase subunit c is the main stored protein in both disorders. Both the DCLN5 and CLN8 genes encode putative membrane proteins with yet unknown functions. Furthermore, a well studied spontaneously occurring autosomal recessive mouse mutant, motor neuron degeneration (mnd) mouse, is a homolog for CLN8.
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PMID:Studies of homogenous populations: CLN5 and CLN8. 1133 69

The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs, Batten disease) are recessively inherited neurodegenerative disorders that affect humans and other animals, characterised by brain atrophy and the accumulation of lysosome derived fluorescent storage bodies in neurons and most other cells. Common clinical signs include blindness, ataxia, dementia, seizures and premature death. The associated genes for six different human forms have been identified (CLN1, CLN2, CLN3, CLN5, CLN6 and CLN8), and three other human forms suggested (CLNs 4, 7 and 9). A form of NCL in Australian Devon cattle is caused by a single base duplication (c.662dupG) in bovine CLN5. This mutation causes a frame-shift and premature termination (p.Arg221GlyfsX6) which is predicted to result in a severely truncated protein, analogous to disease causing mutations in human Finnish late infantile variant NCL (CLN5), and a simple genetic diagnostic test has been developed. The symptoms and disease course in cattle also matches CLN5. Only one initiation site was found in the bovine gene, equivalent to the third of four possible initiation sites in the human gene. As cattle are anatomically and physiologically similar to humans with a human-like central nervous system and easy to maintain and breed, they provide a valuable alternative model for CLN5 studies.
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PMID:Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis in Devon cattle is caused by a single base duplication (c.662dupG) in the bovine CLN5 gene. 1693 76

The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs, Batten disease) are a group of fatal recessively inherited neurodegenerative diseases of humans and animals characterised by common clinical signs and pathology. These include blindness, ataxia, dementia, behavioural changes, seizures, brain and retinal atrophy and accumulation of fluorescent lysosome derived organelles in most cells. A number of different variants have been suggested and seven different causative genes identified in humans (CLN1, CLN2, CLN3, CLN5, CLN6, CLN8 and CTSD). Animal models have played a central role in the investigation of this group of diseases and are extremely valuable for developing a better understanding of the disease mechanisms and possible therapeutic approaches. Ovine models include flocks of affected New Zealand South Hampshires and Borderdales and Australian Merinos. The ovine CLN6 gene has been sequenced in a representative selection of these sheep. These investigations unveiled the mutation responsible for the disease in Merino sheep (c.184C>T; p.Arg62Cys) and three common ovine allelic variants (c.56A>G, c.822G>A and c.933_934insCT). Linkage analysis established that CLN6 is the gene most likely to cause NCL in affected South Hampshire sheep, which do not have the c.184C>T mutation but show reduced expression of CLN6 mRNA in a range of tissues as determined by real-time PCR. Lack of linkage precludes CLN6 as a candidate for NCL in Borderdale sheep.
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PMID:A missense mutation (c.184C>T) in ovine CLN6 causes neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis in Merino sheep whereas affected South Hampshire sheep have reduced levels of CLN6 mRNA. 1704 13