Spinocerebellar ataxias （SCAs） are a group of genetic disorders characterized by slowly progressive incoordina- tion of gait and are often associated with poor coordination of the hands, speech, and eye movements. F...Spinocerebellar ataxias （SCAs） are a group of genetic disorders characterized by slowly progressive incoordina- tion of gait and are often associated with poor coordination of the hands, speech, and eye movements. Frequently, atrophy of the cerebellum occurs. The genetic forms of ataxia are diagnosed by family history, physical examina- tion, neuroimaging, and molecular genetic testing. At present, 36 SCA subtypes including 27 pathogenic genes have been identified [1]. Different subtypes of SCAs have clear distribution differences among ethnic populations, and SCA8 is an infrequent entity worldwide, which has mostly been reported in Japanese, but has never been reported in Chinese [2]. SCAB involves bidirectional expression based on the total number of both the （CTA）n and （CTG）n expansion transcripts in ATXN8OS. The pathogenesis of this disorder is complex and the spectrum of clinical presentations is broad. It is predominantly characterized by drawn-out slowness of speech and gait instability, followed by slowly progressive ataxia, with disease onset typically occurring in adulthood [3]. How- ever, the lowest full-penetrance allele for SCA8 onset remains elusive and the current understanding of the phenotypic and genotypic features of SCA8 is limited. Since SCA8 has not yet been reported in the Chinese population and is scantily reported in a small proportion of pedigrees so far, clinical knowledge is still developing. Moreover, the boundary between the normal and patho- genic alleles of SCA8 is uncertain. Here we report the clinical and molecular genetic characteristics of 3 Chinese SCA8 families and have identified 51 CTA/CTG repeats within ATXN8OS, probably the shortest pathogenic allele for SCA8.展开更多
基金supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81301486 and81672095)
文摘Spinocerebellar ataxias （SCAs） are a group of genetic disorders characterized by slowly progressive incoordina- tion of gait and are often associated with poor coordination of the hands, speech, and eye movements. Frequently, atrophy of the cerebellum occurs. The genetic forms of ataxia are diagnosed by family history, physical examina- tion, neuroimaging, and molecular genetic testing. At present, 36 SCA subtypes including 27 pathogenic genes have been identified [1]. Different subtypes of SCAs have clear distribution differences among ethnic populations, and SCA8 is an infrequent entity worldwide, which has mostly been reported in Japanese, but has never been reported in Chinese [2]. SCAB involves bidirectional expression based on the total number of both the （CTA）n and （CTG）n expansion transcripts in ATXN8OS. The pathogenesis of this disorder is complex and the spectrum of clinical presentations is broad. It is predominantly characterized by drawn-out slowness of speech and gait instability, followed by slowly progressive ataxia, with disease onset typically occurring in adulthood [3]. How- ever, the lowest full-penetrance allele for SCA8 onset remains elusive and the current understanding of the phenotypic and genotypic features of SCA8 is limited. Since SCA8 has not yet been reported in the Chinese population and is scantily reported in a small proportion of pedigrees so far, clinical knowledge is still developing. Moreover, the boundary between the normal and patho- genic alleles of SCA8 is uncertain. Here we report the clinical and molecular genetic characteristics of 3 Chinese SCA8 families and have identified 51 CTA/CTG repeats within ATXN8OS, probably the shortest pathogenic allele for SCA8.
