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)

The organ most frequently affected in mitochondrial disorders, particularly respiratory chain diseases (RCDs), in addition to the skeletal muscle, is the central nervous system (CNS). CNS manifestations of RCDs comprise stroke-like episodes, epilepsy, migraine, ataxia, spasticity, movement disorders, psychiatric disorders, cognitive decline, or even dementia (mitochondrial dementia). So far mitochondrial dementia has been reported in MELAS, MERRF, LHON, CPEO, KSS, MNGIE, NARP, Leigh syndrome, and Alpers-Huttenlocher disease. Mitochondrial dementia not only results from mutations in the mitochondrial genome but also from mutations in nuclear genes, such as POLG, thymidine kinase 2, or DDP1. Often mitochondrial dementia starts with specific cognitive deficits, particularly in visual construction, attention, abstraction, or flexibility but without a general intellectual deterioration. Cognitive impairment in RCDs is diagnosed upon neuropsychological testing, imaging studies, such as MRI, PET, or MR-spectroscopy, CSF-investigations, or electroencephalography. Therapy of mitochondrial dementia relies on symptomatic measures. Only single patients profit from cholinesterase inhibitors or memantine, antioxidants, vitamins, coenzyme-Q, or other substitutes. Overall, mitochondrial dementia is an important differential of dementias and should be considered in patients with multi-system disease.
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PMID:Mitochondrial disorders, cognitive impairment and dementia. 1926 75

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 31 (SCA31) is a relatively common degenerative ataxia in Japan. We recently discovered SCA31 mutation as a complex pentanucleotide repeat containing (TAAAA)(n), (TAGAA)(n), and (TGGAA)(n). The size of this repeat ranged from 2.8 to 3.5 kilo-base pairs (kb). Among these repeats, (TGGAA)(n) repeat appears crucial for SCA31 pathogenesis. The length of this complex repeat inversely correlated with ages of onset in patients. The mutation lies in an intron shared by two different genes, BEAN (brain expressed, associated with NEDD4) and TK2 (thymidine kinase 2), which are transcribed in opposite directions. Thus, the complex pentanucleotide sequence is predicted to be transcribed in both directions, but not necessarily translated into proteins. In situ hybridization analysis in patients' Purkinje cells demonstrated that pentanucleotide repeats transcribed in BEAN direction form RNA aggregates ("RNA foci"). We further found that splicing factors, SFRS1 and SFRS9, binds to (UGGAA)(n), the transcript of (TGGAA)(n) in vitro. These findings may imply that SCA31 conforms to pathogenic mechanisms underlying non-coding repeat disorders, such as myotonic dystrophies (DM1 & DM2), and that SFRS1 and SFRS9 are involved in SCA31 pathogenesis.
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PMID:[Spinocerebellar ataxia type 31]. 2192 37