Dataset Information

Lighting a candle in the dark: advances in genetics and gene therapy of recessive retinal dystrophies.

ABSTRACT: Nonsyndromic recessive retinal dystrophies cause severe visual impairment due to the death of photoreceptor and retinal pigment epithelium cells. These diseases until recently have been considered to be incurable. Molecular genetic studies in the last two decades have revealed the underlying molecular causes in approximately two-thirds of patients. The mammalian eye has been at the forefront of therapeutic trials based on gene augmentation in humans with an early-onset nonsyndromic recessive retinal dystrophy due to mutations in the retinal pigment epithelium-specific protein 65kDa (RPE65) gene. Tremendous challenges still lie ahead to extrapolate these studies to other retinal disease-causing genes, as human gene augmentation studies require testing in animal models for each individual gene and sufficiently large patient cohorts for clinical trials remain to be identified through cost-effective mutation screening protocols.

SUBMITTER: den Hollander AI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2929718 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Lighting a candle in the dark: advances in genetics and gene therapy of recessive retinal dystrophies.

den Hollander Anneke I AI Black Aaron A Bennett Jean J Cremers Frans P M FP

The Journal of clinical investigation 20100901 9

Nonsyndromic recessive retinal dystrophies cause severe visual impairment due to the death of photoreceptor and retinal pigment epithelium cells. These diseases until recently have been considered to be incurable. Molecular genetic studies in the last two decades have revealed the underlying molecular causes in approximately two-thirds of patients. The mammalian eye has been at the forefront of therapeutic trials based on gene augmentation in humans with an early-onset nonsyndromic recessive ret ...[more]

PMID: 20811160

Similar Datasets

Project description:ObjectiveTo provide a comprehensive overview of all detected mutations in the ABCA4 gene in Spanish families with autosomal recessive retinal disorders, including Stargardt's disease (arSTGD), cone-rod dystrophy (arCRD), and retinitis pigmentosa (arRP), and to assess genotype-phenotype correlation and disease progression in 10 years by considering the type of variants and age at onset.DesignCase series.ParticipantsA total of 420 unrelated Spanish families: 259 arSTGD, 86 arCRD, and 75 arRP.MethodsSpanish families were analyzed through a combination of ABCR400 genotyping microarray, denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography, and high-resolution melting scanning. Direct sequencing was used as a confirmation technique for the identified variants. Screening by multiple ligation probe analysis was used to detect possible large deletions or insertions in the ABCA4 gene. Selected families were analyzed further by next generation sequencing.Main outcome measuresDNA sequence variants, mutation detection rates, haplotypes, age at onset, central or peripheral vision loss, and night blindness.ResultsOverall, we detected 70.5% and 36.6% of all expected ABCA4 mutations in arSTGD and arCRD patient cohorts, respectively. In the fraction of the cohort where the ABCA4 gene was sequenced completely, the detection rates reached 73.6% for arSTGD and 66.7% for arCRD. However, the frequency of possibly pathogenic ABCA4 alleles in arRP families was only slightly higher than that in the general population. Moreover, in some families, mutations in other known arRP genes segregated with the disease phenotype.ConclusionsAn increasing understanding of causal ABCA4 alleles in arSTGD and arCRD facilitates disease diagnosis and prognosis and also is paramount in selecting patients for emerging clinical trials of therapeutic interventions. Because ABCA4-associated diseases are evolving retinal dystrophies, assessment of age at onset, accurate clinical diagnosis, and genetic testing are crucial. We suggest that ABCA4 mutations may be associated with a retinitis pigmentosa-like phenotype often as a consequence of severe (null) mutations, in cases of long-term, advanced disease, or both. Patients with classical arRP phenotypes, especially from the onset of the disease, should be screened first for mutations in known arRP genes and not ABCA4.

Dataset Information

Lighting a candle in the dark: advances in genetics and gene therapy of recessive retinal dystrophies.

Publications

Lighting a candle in the dark: advances in genetics and gene therapy of recessive retinal dystrophies.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets