Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0025362 (mental retardation)
 15,878 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Seckel syndrome (SCKL) is a rare, genetically heterogeneous disorder, with dysmorphic facial appearance, growth retardation, microcephaly, mental retardation, variable chromosomal instability, and hematological disorders. To date, three loci have been linked to this syndrome, and recently, the gene encoding ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein (ATR) was identified as the gene mutated at the SCKL1 locus. The ATR mutation affects splicing efficiency, resulting in low levels of ATR in affected individuals. Elsewhere, we reported increased instability at common chromosomal fragile sites in cells lacking the replication checkpoint gene ATR. Here, we tested whether cells from patients carrying the SCKL1 mutation would show increased chromosome breakage following replication stress. We found that, compared with controls, there is greater chromosomal instability, particularly at fragile sites, in SCKL1-affected patient cells after treatment with aphidicolin, an inhibitor of DNA polymerase alpha and other polymerases. The difference in chromosomal instability between control and patient cells increases at higher levels of aphidicolin treatment, suggesting that the low level of ATR present in these patients is not sufficient to respond appropriately to replication stress. This is the first human genetic syndrome associated with increased chromosome instability at fragile sites following replication stress, and these findings may be related to the phenotypic findings in patients with SCKL1.
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PMID:Chromosomal instability at common fragile sites in Seckel syndrome. 1530 89

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is an evolutionarily conserved serine/threonine kinase that is a member of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-related kinase (PIKK) family. mTOR forms two distinct complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2. mTORC1 has emerged as a central regulator of cellular metabolism, cell proliferation, cellular differentiation, autophagy and immune response regulation. In contrast to mTORC1, mTORC2, which is not well understood, participates in cell survival and the regulation of actin and cytokeratin organization. In addition, mTORC1 has been implicated in many diseases, including cancer, metabolic diseases, neurological disease, genetic diseases and longevity/aging. One of the diseases resulting from dysfunction of mTORC1 is tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), which reflects all the symptoms that arise in response to mTORC1 dysfunction. TSC is a multiple hamartomas syndrome with epilepsy, autism, mental retardation and hypopigmented macules that are caused by the constitutive activation of mTORC1 resulting from genetic mutation of TSC1 or TSC2. Inhibitors of mTORC1, such as rapamycin, effectively suppress the symptoms of TSC. This article summarizes the current knowledge on mTOR and the efficacy of mTORC1 inhibitors in the treatment of TSC.
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PMID:Mammalian target of rapamycin and tuberous sclerosis complex. 2605 78

Seckel syndrome-1 or "bird-headed dwarfism", Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man number 210600, is a rare genetic disease with an autosomal recessive transmission. We report a female child of 56 months diagnosed with SCKL1 at the Pediatric department of the University Hospital Center Sourou Sanou, Burkina Faso. She showed the typical features including facial dysmorphism, dwarfism, microcephalus and mental retardation. Ophthalmic and dental anomaly and extremities were associated. Without a codified etiological treatment, a psychotherapist support, a genetic counseling, a regular pediatric follow-up, a quarterly odontostomatological and ophthalmological follow- up have been recommended.
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PMID:The Seckel syndrome: A case observed in the pediatric department of the University Hospital Center Sourou Sanou (Burkina Faso). 3230 69