Unaffected patients with a homozygous absence of the SMN1 gene

In this report, we present three families in which we identified asymptomatic carriers of a homozygous absence of the SMN1 gene. In the first family, the bialleleic deletion was found in three of four siblings: two affected brothers (SMA type 3a and 3b) and a 25-years-old asymptomatic sister. All of them have four SMN2 copies. In the second family, four of six siblings are affected (three suffer from SMA2 and one from SMA3a), each with three SMN2 copies. The clinically asymptomatic 47-year-old father has the biallelic deletion and four SMN2 copies. In the third family, the biallelic SMN1 absence was found in a girl affected with SMA1 and in her healthy 53-years-old father who had five SMN2 copies. Our findings as well as those of other authors show that an increased number of SMN2 copies in healthy carriers of the biallelic SMN1 deletion is an important SMA phenotype modifier, but probably not the only one.     

Late-childhood-onset spinal muscular atrophy in three Melanesian families in Papua New Guinea

Late-childhood-onset spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) with rapid progression from proximal to distal muscle groups and leading to severe incapacity or death in adolescence or early adult life, was studied in two Melanesian families in Papua New Guinea. Probable SMA with cardiomyopathy was observed in a 12-year-old boy in a related family. The pattern of inheritance in the study group did not conform to any of the conventional Mendelian modes and it was conjectured that the disease was expressed in heterozygote carriers of the SMA gene only when an allelomorphic activator gene was present.     

Molecular analysis of candidate genes on chromosome 5q13 in autosomal recessive spinal muscular atrophy: evidence of homozygous deletions of the SMN gene in unaffected individuals

Proximal spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a common autosomalrecessive neuromuscular disorder characterized by degenerationof anterior horn cells in the spinal cord leading to weaknessand wasting of voluntary muscles. Here we present the molecularanalysis of both SMA candidate genes, the survival motor neurongene (SMN; exons 7 and 8) and the neuronal apoptosis inhibitoryprotein gene (NAIP; exons 5, 6 and 13), in 195 patients and348 parents of SMA families mainly of German origin. The SMNgene is homozygously deleted for both exons 7 and 8 or exon7 only in 96% of type I SMA, 94% of type II SMA and 82% of typeIII SMA as well as in 0.3% of SMA parents. The NAIP gene ishomozygously deleted in 46% of type I SMA, 17% of type II SMA,7% of type III SMA and 2% of SMA parents. The frequencies ofdeletions in patients for both genes, SMN and NAIP, correspondto those for the NAIP gene only. SMA patients of this serieswho did not show deletions were clinically Indistinguishablefrom deleted patients. In addition to one unaffected motherof a type II SMA patient, we found homozygous deletions of theSMN gene exons 7 and 8 in six further unaffected individuais,all sibs of type II and III patients. These belonged to fourfamilies with affected and unaffected sibs who showed identicalhaplotypes for all SMA flanking markers; therefore, we had regardedthese families as chromosome 5 unlinked. All seven unaffectedindividuals in whom we detected SMA deletions do not show anysigns of muscle weakness and are physically inconspicuous. Thelargest divergence between age at onset of an affected subjectand the present age of unaffected deleted sibs is four decadesnow. The occurrence of SMN deletions in unaffected individualssuggests that other genes or mechanisms may be necessary toproduce the SMA phenotype.     

Apparent SMA I unlinked to 5q.

A proband with a clinical picture indistinguishable from SMA type I is described. The parents are second cousins. On DNA analysis it appeared that the proband and his healthy 2 year old sib had inherited the same haplotypes for DNA markers flanking the SMA locus on 5q. This supports non-linkage of SMA to chromosome 5q in this family. The consanguinity of the parents raises the possibility of a second locus for autosomal recessive SMA type I outside the 5q12-13 region. This may have implications for genetic counselling after prenatal diagnosis in consanguineous families. Furthermore, this case illustrates the importance of the inclusion of all healthy sibs in prenatal DNA studies for SMA type I.     

Genomic rearrangements in childhood spinal muscular atrophy: linkage disequilibrium with a null allele.

Autosomal recessive childhood onset spinal muscular atrophy has been mapped to chromosome 5q13. We report the analysis of a polymorphic microsatellite which shows linkage disequilibrium with the disease. The linkage disequilibrium is observed with a null allele which is seen as the non-inheritance of alleles from one or both parents. The inheritance of a null allele was observed in 26 out of 36 (72%) informative childhood onset spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) families tested, of all types of severity and from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. In seven families segregating for the severe Werdnig-Hoffmann or SMA type I, no alleles were inherited from either parent using this microsatellite. This null allele may represent a deletion which is either closely associated with, or causes, the disease.     

应用多重连接探针扩增技术行脊髓性肌萎缩症产前诊断的结果分析与遗传咨询指导

目的:对脊髓性肌萎缩症(spinal muscular atrophy, SMA)家系进行产前诊断,为SMA产前分子诊断提供遗传咨询指导意见。方法:纳入2016年至2019年在本院产前诊断中心就诊的21个家系开展研究,应用多重连接探针扩增(multiplex ligation-dependent probe ampli...     

Somatic mosaicism for a heterozygous deletion of the survival motor neuron (SMN1) gene

Infantile spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a common autosomal recessive disease with a high demand for carrier testing. The disease is caused by homozygous deletions of the survival motor neuron (SMN)1 gene on chromosome 5q13 in more than 90% of cases. Meanwhile, several reliable quantitative methods for carrier detection in the general population have been implemented with a risk of at least 5% for false negative results. Linkage analyses with chromosome 5 markers can be used for complementary information, but they are restricted to risk estimation of close relatives in affected families. Here, we present the first observation of a somatic mosaicism in an SMA carrier. Molecular genetic studies gave evidence that the SMN1 deletion of an SMA type I patient most probably arose from somatic mosaicism in the paternal grandmother. The patient's father and his two brothers were shown to be carriers of three different maternal haplotypes in 5q13. Final conclusions for genetic counselling were only possible after both linkage analysis and quantitative real-time PCR analysis of SMN1 copy numbers.     

Allelic association and deletions in autosomal recessive proximal spinal muscular atrophy: association of marker genotype with disease severity and candidate cDNAs

The candidate region for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has beendefined as a 750 kb interval on 5q13. In this study, we performedallelic association studies in 154 German SMA families withthe multicopy markers Ag1-CA (D5S1556); C212 (D5F149S1/S2) andcorrelated genotype data with deletion of candidate genes. Bothmulticopy markers recognize 0–3 alleles pro chromosome.Deletions were detected for all copies of the markers Ag1-CA(C272) and C212 in 13 of 88 (15%) type I SMA patients and threeof 48 (6%) type II patients. In all informative cases, the deletionwas inherited from one parent. In two further cases (one typeI and one type III SMA), de novo deletions of only one copyof Ag1-CA and C212 were found. In both cases the patients werehomozygously deleted for the survival motor neuron (SMN) gene(exons 7 and 8) but only the type I SMA patient was deletedfor the neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein (NAIP) gene (exons5 and 6). A third case (type II SMA) showed de novo deletionof SMN, but not of Ag1-CA, C212 and NAIP. Specific alleles ofAg1-CA and C212 showed significant association with SMA, particularlyin type I SMA. When the number of marker copies defines genotypes,1,1 (one allele on each chromosome) is found to be increasedin type I SMA (50%) and 1, 2 (one allele on one chromosome andtwo alleles on the other one) in type II SMA (60%). The 2,2genotype (two alleles on each chromosome) was found in 4% oftype I and II patients. By comparison, pooled normal genotypefrequencies were 20, 44 and 36%, respectively. These resultssuggest a strong correlation between genotype and severity ofdisease. Based on these data we propose a model which indicatesthat type I SMA patients are composed of two severe alleles,type II of a mild and a severe, and type III of two mild alleles.Correlation of Ag1-CA genotype with deletion of the XS2G3/NAIPgenes indicates that most patients with a deletion have a 1,1genotype. Owing to the physical proximity of these markers,we propose that a large deletion occurs on type I SMA chromosomesthat removes DNA between C212 and XS2G3/NAIP and that type IISMA results from compound heterozygosity for mild (small deletion)and severe mutations.     

Genotyping of spinal muscular atrophy families with linked DNA probes

We report on linkage analysis and haplotype characterization in 40 Italian families with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The investigated loci included D5S6, D5S112, D5S39, and D5S76. No evidence of unlinked families was found. Thirty-two (80%) of the examined families were fully informative for prenatal diagnosis and carrier detection. The frequencies of individual alleles did not differ between SMA and normal chromosomes.     

Deletion analysis of the simple tandem repeat loci physically linked to the spinal muscular atrophy locus

Multicopy dinucleotide repeats have been characterized in the spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) region on chromosome 5q13, which reveal deletions in some SMA patients. 119 Italian and Spanish SMA families have been analysed using the C272 and C212 markers. Seventy percent of these families were informative. We found 9.4% de novo deletions in SMA I and 1.5% in SMA II families. A single inherited deletion segregating in a Spanish pedigree was detected in three affected brothers. A SMA II patient showed deletion only of C272. The data presented in this study are relevant to the molecular diagnosis of SMA families in Italy and Spain and provide additional insights toward the understanding of the molecular pathology of SMA. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Unusual molecular findings in autosomal recessive spinal muscular atrophy.

All three types of autosomal recessive spinal muscular atrophy map to chromosome 5q11.2-q13.3 and are associated with deletions or mutations of the SMN (survival motor neurone) gene. The availability of a test to distinguish between the SMN gene and its nearly identical centromeric copy cBCD541 allows molecular diagnosis. We have analysed patients from 24 Belgian and 34 Turkish families for the presence or absence of a deletion in the SMN gene. A homozygous deletion in the SMN gene was seen in 90% of unrelated SMA patients. A non-radioactive SSCP assay allows for a semiquantitative analysis of the copy number of the centromeric and SMN genes. Hence, direct carrier detection has become feasible under certain conditions. We observed a phenotypically normal male, father of an SMA type I patient, presenting with only a single copy of the SMN gene and lacking both copies of the cBCD541 gene. This illustrates that a reduction of the total number of SMN and cBCD541 genes to a single SMN copy is compatible with normal life. In another SMA type I family, there is evidence for a de novo deletion of the centromeric gene in a normal sib. This observation illustrates the susceptibility of the SMA locus to de novo deletions and rearrangements.     

A clinical and genetic study of spinal muscular atrophy

AIMS: This study evaluates clinical, electromyography (EMG) and genetic analysis of consecutive patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in a tertiary care adult neurology practice in India. METHODS: Consecutive patients with SMA attending the neurology out patient department during 2001-2003 were included. They were subjected to a detailed clinical examination, nerve conduction and EMG and muscle biopsy. Clinically patients were classified into generalised and segmental SMA. SMN gene deletion study was carried out in all the patients. RESULTS: There were 15 patients with type III and type IV SMA and 15 with segmental SMA (Hirayama disease). The age ranged between 5 and 23 years in type III SMA, 33-50 years in type IV SMA and 16-30 years in Hirayama disease (HD). The latter was found exclusively in males. Family history was observed in 1 patient each in all the groups. In SMA III mother and brother were affected, in SMA IV two siblings and in HD one brother had similar disease. One type III SMA family was associated with deafness and one type IV family had strong association with maturity onset diabetes in young. The EMG was characterised by lack of fibrillations in all type III and IV SMA patients except 1 whereas in HD, 11 out of 15 had fibrillations suggesting ongoing denervation. The EMG was suggestive of reinnervation in generalised SMA in both upper and lower limb muscles where as these abnormalities were restricted to C7-T1 mytomes in HD. Muscle biopsy in 10 patients with generalised SMA revealed group atrophy in all, and loss of fascicular architecture in 3, clumping of nuclei in 7 and hypertrophic fibers in 4. SMN1 gene deletion was present in 3 patients with type III but none in type IV and HD. CONCLUSION: SMN gene deletion was positive in 33% type III SMA whereas it was negative in type IV and HD. Presence of HD only in males may be consistent with X-linked disorder.     

90个脊髓性肌萎缩家系的遗传学分析

目的对90个脊髓性肌萎缩(spinal muscular atrophy,SMA)家系进行基因诊断与产前诊断,为SMA的遗传学分析方法提供参考,并初步探讨SMA缺陷基因携带者基因筛査的必要性。方法应用多重连接探针扩增(multiplex ligation dependent probe amplification,MLP A)技术对90个SMA家系进行基因诊断,联合MLPA及等位基因特异性PCR(allele specific PCR,A&PCR)技术对家系进行产前诊断并对产前诊断结果进行分析。结果在90个SMA家系中,84对夫妻无SMA家族史,占比93%;85对夫妻有SMA生育史,占比94%;85个家系夫妻双方及3个家系的孕妇SMN1基因杂合缺失,为SMA缺陷基因携带者;2个家系孕妇SMN1基因纯合缺失,为SMA患者;产前诊断结果显示48名胎儿为SMA缺陷基因携带者,23名胎儿为正常胎儿,19名胎儿为SMA患者,其中无家族史夫妻双方再孕SMA胎儿18例,占总SMA胎儿95%、占总胎儿20%。结论应用MLPA对夫妻双方进行SMA缺陷基因携带者筛查,并联合使用MLPA和AS-PCR对携带者夫妻进行SMA产前诊断十分必要,对预防SMA出生缺陷具有积极意义。     

Newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy: The views of affected families and adults

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is one of the leading genetic causes of infant death worldwide. However, due to a lack of treatments, SMA has historically fallen short of Wilson‐Jungner criteria. While studies have explored the acceptability of expanded newborn screening to the general public, the views of affected families have been largely overlooked. This is in spite of the potential for direct impacts on them and their unique positioning to consider the value of early diagnosis. We have previously reported data on attitudes toward pre‐conception and prenatal genetic screening for SMA among affected families (adults with SMA [n = 82] and family members [n = 255]). Here, using qualitative interview [n = 36] and survey data [n = 337], we report the views of this same cohort toward newborn screening. The majority (70%) of participants were in favor, however, all subgroups (except adults with type II) preferred pre‐conception and/or prenatal screening to newborn screening. Key reasons for newborn screening support were: (1) the potential for improved support; (2) the possibility of enrolling pre‐symptomatic children on clinical trials. Key reasons for non‐support were: (1) concerns about impact on the early experiences of the family; (2) inability to treat. Importantly, participants did not view the potential for inaccurate typing as a significant obstacle to the launch of a population‐wide screening program. This study underscores the need to include families affected by genetic diseases within consultations on screening. This is particularly important for conditions such as SMA which challenge traditional screening criteria, and for which new therapeutics are emerging.     

Lethal congenital contracture syndrome (LCCS), a fetal anterior horn cell disease, is not linked to the SMA 5q locus.

The lethal congenital contracture syndrome (LCCS) is an autosomal recessive syndrome (McKusick 253310) leading to perinatal death owing to early onset degeneration of the anterior horn motor neurones of the spinal cord. The neuropathological findings in the LCCS closely resemble those of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Since all the three types of SMA have been localised to the same gene locus on the long arm of chromosome 5, we analysed samples from seven families with 10 LCCS fetuses with the microsatellite markers assigned to the SMA 5q region. Linkage analyses between the SMA linked DNA markers and the disease allele in the LCCS families excluded the critical chromosomal region around the SMA locus as the critical chromosomal region for the LCCS locus.     

Deletion analysis of Bulgarian SMA families

All three types of autosomal recessive spinal muscular atrophy map to chromosome region 5q13. Recent reports suggest that they are associated with deletions of two adjacent genes: SMN and NAIP. Here we report the first deletion analysis of Bulgarian SMA families. Homozygous deletion of exons 7 and 8 of the SMN gene were found in 85% of our patients, but the NAIP gene (exons 5 and 6) was deleted in only 26% of patients. To our knowledge, these frequencies are some of the lowest reported so far. The NAIP gene was deleted predominantly in severely affected patients (type I), while in the group with milder types SMA only deletions of the SMN gene were detected. Our phenotype–genotype correlation study confirmed that larger deletions are associated with more severe clinical course. The Bulgarian data support the thesis that the telomeric SMN gene could play a major role in determining SMA, while the NAIP or the centromeric SMN copy have a modifying effect on the phenotype. Hum Mutat 12:33–38, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The survival motor neuron protein in spinal muscular atrophy

The 38 kDa survival motor neuron (SMN) protein is encoded by two ubiquitously expressed genes: telomeric SMN (SMN(T)) and centromeric SMN (SMN(C)). Mutations in SMN(T), but not SMN(C), cause proximal spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), an autosomal recessive disorder that results in loss of motor neurons. SMN is found in the cytoplasm and nucleus. The nuclear form is located in structures termed gems. Using a panel of anti-SMN antibodies, we demonstrate that the SMN protein is expressed from both the SMN(T) and SMN(C) genes. Western blot analysis of fibroblasts from SMA patients with various clinical severities of SMA showed a moderate reduction in the amount of SMN protein, particularly in type I (most severe) patients. Immunocytochemical analysis of SMA patient fibroblasts indicates a significant reduction in the number of gems in type I SMA patients and a correlation of the number of gems with clinical severity. This correlation to phenotype using primary fibroblasts may serve as a useful diagnostic tool in an easily accessible tissue. SMN is expressed at high levels in brain, kidney and liver, moderate levels in skeletal and cardiac muscle, and low levels in fibroblasts and lymphocytes. In SMA patients, the SMN level was moderately reduced in muscle and lymphoblasts. In contrast, SMN was expressed at high levels in spinal cord from normals and non- SMA disease controls, but was reduced 100-fold in spinal cord from type I patients. The marked reduction of SMN in type I SMA spinal cords is consistent with the features of this motor neuron disease. We suggest that disruption of SMN(T) in type I patients results in loss of SMN from motor neurons, resulting in the degeneration of these neurons.      

Clinical application of the molecular diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy: Deletions of neuronal apoptosis inhibitor protein and survival motor neuron genes

The molecular genetic diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has recently been complicated by the identification of two candidate genes, which are often deleted in affected individuals but are also occasionally deleted in apparently unaffected carriers. We present a compilation of genotypes, from our laboratory and recent reports, for the survival motor neuron (SMN) and neuronal apoptosis inhibitor protein (NAIP) genes. Bayesian analyses were used to generate probabilities for SMA when deletions are present or absent in SMN. We found that when the SMN^T exon 7 is deleted, the probability of SMA can reach greater than 98% in some populations, and when SMN^T is present, the probability of SMA is approximately 17 times less than the prior population risk. Deletion of NAIP exon 5, as well as SMN^T exon 7, is associated with a 5-fold increased risk of type I SMA. Case studies are used to illustrate differing disease risks for pre- and postnatal testing, depending on the presence of information about clinical status or molecular results. These analyses demonstrate that deletion screening of candidate genes can be a powerful tool in the diagnosis of SMA. Am. J. Med. Genet. 69:159–165, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Molecular analysis of the SMN and NAIP genes in Spanish spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) families and correlation between number of copies of cBCD541 and SMA phenotype [published erratum appears in Hum Mol Genet 1996 May;5(5):710]

Spinal muscular atrophy is an autosomal recessive disorder which affects about 1 in 10,000 individuals. The three clinical forms of SMA were mapped to the 5q13 region. Three candidate genes have been isolated and shown to be deleted in SMA patients: the Survival Motor Neuron gene (SMN), the Neuronal Apoptosis Inhibitory Protein gene (NAIP) and the XS2G3 cDNA. In this report we present the molecular analysis of the SMN exons 7 and 8 and NAIP exon 5 in 65 Spanish SMA families. NAIP was mostly deleted in type I patients (67.9%) and SMN was deleted in 92.3% of patients with severe and milder forms. Most patients who lacked the NAIP gene also lacked the SMN gene, but we identified one type II patient deleted for NAIP exon 5 but not for SMN exons 7 and 8. Two other patients carried deletions of NAIP exon 5 and SMN exon 7 but retained the SMN exon 8. Three polymorphic variants from the SMN gene, showing changes on the sequence of the centromeric (cBCD541) and telomeric copies of the SMN gene, were found. In addition, we show several genetic rearrangements of the telomeric SMN gene, which include duplication of this gene in one normal chromosome, and putative gene conversion events in affected and normal chromosomes. Altogether these results corroborate the high genetic variability of the SMA region. Finally, we have determined the ratio between the number of centromeric and telomeric copies of the SMN gene in parents of SMA patients, showing that the majority of parents of types II and III patients carried three or more copies of the cBCD541 gene; we suggest a relationship between the number of copies of cBCD541 and the disease phenotype.