Founder effect and estimation of the age of the c.892C>T (p.Arg298Cys) mutation in LMNA associated to Charcot-Marie-Tooth subtype CMT2B1 in families from North Western Africa.

CMT2B1, an axonal subtype (MIM 605588) of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, is an autosomal recessive motor and sensory neuropathy characterized by progressive muscular and sensory loss in the distal extremities with chronic distal weakness. The genetic defect associated with the disease is, to date, a unique homozygous missense mutation, p.Arg298Cys (c.892C>T), in the LMNA gene. So far, this mutation has only been found in affected individuals originating from a restricted region of North Western Africa (northwest of Algeria and east of Morocco), strongly suggesting a founder effect. In order to address this hypothesis, genotyping of both STRs and intragenic SNPs was performed at the LMNA locus, at chromosome 1q21.2-q21.3, in 42 individuals affected with CMT2B1 from 25 Algerian families. Our results indicate that the affected individuals share a common ancestral haplotype in a region of about 1.0 Mb (1 cM) and that the most recent common ancestor would have lived about 800-900 years ago (95% confidence interval: 550 to 1300 years).

Spine deformities in Charcot-Marie-Tooth 4C caused by SH3TC2 gene mutations.

BACKGROUND: Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is a heterogeneous group of inherited peripheral motor and sensory neuropathies with several modes of inheritance: autosomal dominant, X-linked, and autosomal recessive (AR) CMT. A locus responsible for the demyelinating form of ARCMT was assigned to the 5q23-q33 region (CMT4C) by homozygosity mapping. Recently, 11 mutations were identified in the SH3TC2 (KIAA1985) gene in 12 families with demyelinating ARCMT from Turkish, Iranian, Greek, Italian, or German origin. OBJECTIVE: To identify mutations in the SH3TC2 gene. METHODS: The authors searched for SH3TC2 gene mutations in 10 consanguineous CMT families putatively linked to the CMT4C locus on the basis of haplotype segregation and linkage analysis. RESULTS: Ten families had mutations, eight of which were new and one, R954X, recurrent. Six of the 10 mutations were in exon 11. Onset occurred between ages 2 and 10. Scoliosis or kyphoscoliosis and foot deformities were found in almost all patients and were often inaugural. The median motor nerve conduction velocity values (

Phenotypic variability in autosomal recessive axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease due to the R298C mutation in lamin A/C.

Autosomal recessive forms of axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth (ARCMT2) disease are frequent in some areas, such as North Africa and the Middle East, since consanguineous marriages are still common there. Recently, a unique homozygous mutation in LMNA, which encodes lamin A/C, a component of the nuclear envelope, was identified in members of three Algerian families with ARCMT2 linked to chromosome 1q21.2-q21.3. In the present study we describe a group of 21 ARCMT2 patients from seven unrelated Algerian families with the same R298C mutation in the lamin A/C gene and marked variability of the clinical phenotype. There is a wide range of age of onset, from 6 to 27 years, with a mean of 14.4 +/- 4.6 years. The course of the disease varies considerably from one patient to another. Twelve patients with a disease duration of 10-15 years had a severe CMT phenotype with distal wasting and weakness of all four limbs and areflexia associated with involvement of the proximal lower limb muscles. In contrast, nine patients had the classical CMT phenotype with mild functional disability without proximal lower limb involvement after a disease duration of 5-18 years. Electrophysiological studies showed a median motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) in the normal range in almost all the patients. MNCV and compound muscle action potential (CMAP) values were inversely correlated with the disease duration and the MNCV was strictly related to the CMAP, strongly supporting a pure axonal process without a demyelinating component. Six patients had a nerve biopsy, which revealed severe rarefaction of myelinated fibres in all cases and an increased density of unmyelinated fibres in the majority of cases. In conclusion, the ARCMT2 associated with the R298C mutation differs from other types of ARCMT2. The variability among patients in the age of onset and the course of the disease strongly suggests the action of modifying genes, which remain to be identified.