Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Confirmation of linkage of hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis to chromosome 17.
  1. M C Koch,
  2. K Ricker,
  3. M Otto,
  4. T Grimm,
  5. E P Hoffman,
  6. R Rüdel,
  7. K Bender,
  8. B Zoll,
  9. P S Harper,
  10. F Lehmann-Horn
  1. Abteilung Allgemeine Humangenetik, Phillips Universität Marburg, Germany.

    Abstract

    Linkage studies were performed in six European families with hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis (PPII) with myotonia, an autosomal dominantly inherited disorder characterised by episodic weakness. The weakness is caused by non-inactivating sodium channels of reduced single channel conductance of the muscle fibre membrane. Recently, portions of the gene coding for the alpha subunit of the sodium channel of the adult human skeletal muscle (h-Na2) have been cloned and localised on chromosome 17q with no recombinants to the human growth hormone locus (GH1). Linkage between these two chromosome 17 markers and the disease was shown in our families (Z = 7.14, 0 = 0.00). These results, combined with the linkage data of a single large American family, suggest that the disease is caused by dominant mutations of the adult sodium channel, and that it is probably a genetically homogeneous disorder. Hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis is the first non-progressive myotonic disorder to be localised on the human genome.

    Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.