Analysis and occurrence of biallelic pathogenic repeat expansions in RFC1 in a German cohort of patients with a main clinical phenotype of motor neuron disease

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Annalisa Schaub - , Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich (Author)
  • Hannes Erdmann - , Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich (Author)
  • Veronika Scholz - , Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Author)
  • Manuela Timmer - , Group practice for human genetics (Author)
  • Isabell Cordts - , Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, FL (Author)
  • Rene Günther - , Department of Neurology, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden (Author)
  • Peter Reilich - , Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich (Author)
  • Angela Abicht - , Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich (Author)
  • Florian Schöberl - , Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich (Author)

Abstract

Biallelic pathogenic repeat expansions in RFC1 were recently identified as molecular origin of cerebellar ataxia, neuropathy, vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS) as well as of one of the most common causes of adult-onset ataxia. In the meantime, the phenotypic spectrum has expanded massively and now includes mimics of multiple system atrophy or parkinsonism. After identifying a patient with a clinical diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as a carrier of biallelic pathogenic repeat expansions in RFC1, we studied a cohort of 106 additional patients with a clinical main phenotype of motor neuron disease (MND) to analyze whether such repeat expansions are more common in MND patients. Indeed, two additional MND patients (one also with ALS and one with primary lateral sclerosis/PLS) have been identified as carrier of biallelic pathogenic repeat expansions in RFC1 in the absence of another genetic alteration explaining the phenotype, suggesting motor neuron disease as another extreme phenotype of RFC1 spectrum disorder. Therefore, MND might belong to the expanding phenotypic spectrum of pathogenic RFC1 repeat expansions, particularly in those MND patients with additional features such as sensory and/or autonomic neuropathy, vestibular deficits, or cerebellar signs. By systematically analyzing the RFC1 repeat array using Oxford nanopore technology long-read sequencing, our study highlights the high intra- and interallelic heterogeneity of this locus and allows the identification of the novel repeat motif 'ACAAG'.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5804-5812
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of neurology
Volume271 (2024)
Issue number9
Publication statusPublished - 25 Jun 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC11377604
Scopus 85196818278

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adult, Aged, Cohort Studies, DNA Repeat Expansion, Female, Germany, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Motor Neuron Disease/genetics, Phenotype, Replication Protein C/genetics