1. Neuropathy target esterase impairments cause Oliver-McFarlane and Laurence-Moon syndromes.
- Author
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Hufnagel RB, Arno G, Hein ND, Hersheson J, Prasad M, Anderson Y, Krueger LA, Gregory LC, Stoetzel C, Jaworek TJ, Hull S, Li A, Plagnol V, Willen CM, Morgan TM, Prows CA, Hegde RS, Riazuddin S, Grabowski GA, Richardson RJ, Dieterich K, Huang T, Revesz T, Martinez-Barbera JP, Sisk RA, Jefferies C, Houlden H, Dattani MT, Fink JK, Dollfus H, Moore AT, and Ahmed ZM
- Subjects
- Alleles, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases chemistry, Central Nervous System pathology, Developmental Disabilities enzymology, Developmental Disabilities genetics, Embryonic Development genetics, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Humans, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutation genetics, Phenotype, Phospholipases chemistry, Phospholipases genetics, Protein Structure, Tertiary, Retina pathology, Zebrafish embryology, Blepharoptosis enzymology, Blepharoptosis genetics, Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases genetics, Dwarfism enzymology, Dwarfism genetics, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Hypertrichosis enzymology, Hypertrichosis genetics, Intellectual Disability enzymology, Intellectual Disability genetics, Laurence-Moon Syndrome enzymology, Laurence-Moon Syndrome genetics, Retinitis Pigmentosa enzymology, Retinitis Pigmentosa genetics
- Abstract
Background: Oliver-McFarlane syndrome is characterised by trichomegaly, congenital hypopituitarism and retinal degeneration with choroidal atrophy. Laurence-Moon syndrome presents similarly, though with progressive spinocerebellar ataxia and spastic paraplegia and without trichomegaly. Both recessively inherited disorders have no known genetic cause., Methods: Whole-exome sequencing was performed to identify the genetic causes of these disorders. Mutations were functionally validated in zebrafish pnpla6 morphants. Embryonic expression was evaluated via in situ hybridisation in human embryonic sections. Human neurohistopathology was performed to characterise cerebellar degeneration. Enzymatic activities were measured in patient-derived fibroblast cell lines., Results: Eight mutations in six families with Oliver-McFarlane or Laurence-Moon syndrome were identified in the PNPLA6 gene, which encodes neuropathy target esterase (NTE). PNPLA6 expression was found in the developing human eye, pituitary and brain. In zebrafish, the pnpla6 curly-tailed morphant phenotype was fully rescued by wild-type human PNPLA6 mRNA and not by mutation-harbouring mRNAs. NTE enzymatic activity was significantly reduced in fibroblast cells derived from individuals with Oliver-McFarlane syndrome. Intriguingly, adult brain histology from a patient with highly overlapping features of Oliver-McFarlane and Laurence-Moon syndromes revealed extensive cerebellar degeneration and atrophy., Conclusions: Previously, PNPLA6 mutations have been associated with spastic paraplegia type 39, Gordon-Holmes syndrome and Boucher-Neuhäuser syndromes. Discovery of these additional PNPLA6-opathies further elucidates a spectrum of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders associated with NTE impairment and suggests a unifying mechanism with diagnostic and prognostic importance., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.)
- Published
- 2015
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