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Cystic cerebellar dysplasia and biallelic LAMA1 mutations: a lamininopathy associated with tics, obsessive compulsive traits and myopia due to cell adhesion and migration defects
  1. Thierry Vilboux1,2,
  2. May Christine V Malicdan1,3,
  3. Yun Min Chang1,
  4. Jennifer Guo1,
  5. Patricia M Zerfas4,
  6. Joshi Stephen1,
  7. Andrew R Cullinane1,5,
  8. Joy Bryant1,
  9. Roxanne Fischer1,
  10. Brian P Brooks6,
  11. Wadih M Zein6,
  12. Edythe A Wiggs7,
  13. Christopher K Zalewski8,
  14. Andrea Poretti9,
  15. Melanie M Bryan1,
  16. Meghana Vemulapalli10,
  17. James C Mullikin10,
  18. Martha Kirby11,
  19. Stacie M Anderson11,
  20. NISC Comparative Sequencing Program10,
  21. Marjan Huizing1,
  22. Camilo Toro3,
  23. William A Gahl1,3,12,
  24. Meral Gunay-Aygun1,12
  1. 1Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  2. 2Division of Medical Genomics, Inova Translational Medicine Institute, Falls Church, Virginia, USA
  3. 3NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program, Common Fund, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  4. 4Diagnostic and Research Services Branch, Office of Research Services, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  5. 5Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington DC, USA
  6. 6Ophthalmic Genetics & Visual Function Branch, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  7. 7National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  8. 8Audiology Unit, Otolaryngology Branch, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  9. 9Section of Pediatric Neuroradiology, Division of Pediatric Radiology, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
  10. 10NIH Intramural Sequencing Center (NISC), National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  11. 11Flow Cytometry Core, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  12. 12National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr May Christine V Malicdan, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Dr, Bldg 10, Rm 10C103C Bethesda, MD 20892-1851, USA; malicdanm{at}mail.nih.gov

Abstract

Background Laminins are heterotrimeric complexes, consisting of α, β and γ subunits that form a major component of basement membranes and extracellular matrix. Laminin complexes have different, but often overlapping, distributions and functions.

Methods Under our clinical protocol, NCT00068224, we have performed extensive clinical and neuropsychiatric phenotyping, neuroimaging and molecular analysis in patients with laminin α1 (LAMA1)-associated lamininopathy. We investigated the consequence of mutations in LAMA1 using patient-derived fibroblasts and neuronal cells derived from neuronal stem cells.

Results In this paper we describe individuals with biallelic mutations in LAMA1, all of whom had the cerebellar dysplasia, myopia and retinal dystrophy, in addition to obsessive compulsive traits, tics and anxiety. Patient-derived fibroblasts have impaired adhesion, reduced migration, abnormal morphology and increased apoptosis due to impaired activation of Cdc42, a member of the Rho family of GTPases that is involved in cytoskeletal dynamics. LAMA1 knockdown in human neuronal cells also showed abnormal morphology and filopodia formation, supporting the importance of LAMA1 in neuronal migration, and marking these cells potentially useful tools for disease modelling and therapeutic target discovery.

Conclusion This paper broadens the phenotypes associated with LAMA1 mutations. We demonstrate that LAMA1 deficiency can lead to alteration in cytoskeletal dynamics, which may invariably lead to alteration in dendrite growth and axonal formation. Estimation of disease prevalence based on population studies in LAMA1 reveals a prevalence of 1–20 in 1 000 000.

Trial registration number: NCT00068224

  • Clinical genetics
  • Genetics
  • Movement disorders (other than Parkinsons)
  • Myopia
  • Neurosciences

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