The natural history of infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy.

BACKGROUND: Infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy (INAD) is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disorder of early onset causing premature death. It results from biallelic pathogenic variants in PLA2G6, which encodes a calcium-independent phospholipase A2. OBJECTIVE: We aim to outline the natural history of INAD and provide a comprehensive description of its clinical, radiological, laboratory, and molecular findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We comprehensively analyzed the charts of 28 patients: 16 patients from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 8 patients from North and South America and 4 patients from Europe with a molecularly confirmed diagnosis of PLA2G6-associated neurodegeneration (PLAN) and a clinical history consistent with INAD. RESULTS: In our cohort, speech impairment and loss of gross motor milestones were the earliest signs of the disease. As the disease progressed, loss of fine motor milestones and bulbar dysfunction were observed. Temporo-frontal function was among the last of the milestones to be lost. Appendicular spastic hypertonia, axial hypotonia, and hyperreflexia were common neurological findings. Other common clinical findings include nystagmus (60.7%), seizures (42.9%), gastrointestinal disease (42.9%), skeletal deformities (35.7%), and strabismus (28.6%). Cerebellar atrophy and elevations in serum AST and LDH levels were consistent features of INAD. There was a statistically significant difference when comparing patients with non-sense/truncating variants compared with missense/in-frame deletions in the time of initial concern (p = 0.04), initial loss of language (p = 0.001), initial loss of fine motor skills (p = 0.009), and initial loss of bulbar skills (p = 0.007). CONCLUSION: INAD is an ultra-rare neurodegenerative disorder that presents in early childhood, with a relentlessly progressive clinical course. Knowledge of the natural history of INAD may serve as a resource for healthcare providers to develop a targeted care plan and may facilitate the design of clinical trials to treat this disease.

Use of Flow Cytometry for Diagnosis of Epilepsy Associated With Homozygous PIGW Variants.

BACKGROUND: Biallelic variants in PIGW have been suggested to cause infantile spasms and hyperphosphatasia. PIGW encodes for a protein involved in the third step of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) synthesis. GPI anchored proteins are increasingly recognized as important structures for cellular interactions and neuronal development. METHODS: Molecular testing of PIGW was performed followed by fluorescence activating cell sorting analysis of granulocytes, lymphocytes, and monocytes, and compared to controls. FINDINGS: An infant was homozygous for variants in PIGW (c.199C>G; p.Pro67Ala) with an associated phenotype of infantile spasms, myoclonic seizures, cortical visual impairment, developmental delay, and minor dysmorphic features. Alkaline phosphatase levels ranged from normal to mildly elevated. Flow cytometric studies showed significantly decreased expression of important GPIs, providing functional evidence of pathogenicity. CONCLUSION: Our data provide further evidence of a novel autosomal recessive PIGW-related epilepsy disorder. Flow cytometry provided functional evidence of the pathogenicity of homozygous variants of uncertain significance in PIGW, and supports the use of flow cytometry as a functional tool to demonstrate decreased surface expression of GPI anchored proteins in individuals with variants of unknown significance.

A Case of Escherichia coli Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome in a 10-Year-Old Male With Severe Neurologic Involvement Successfully Treated With Eculizumab.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) can be classified as typical and atypical, and the treatment recommendations currently differ between the 2 types. Eculizumab is recommended as first-line treatment for atypical HUS; however, its use in typical HUS has been controversial. We report a case of a 10-year-old male with severe neurologic impairment who was successfully treated with eculizumab, which was started 4 days after onset of neurologic symptoms. Our case supports the use of eculizumab in typical HUS with neurologic involvement, even when given later in the course, as the pathophysiology of typical HUS has been shown to involve activation of the complement pathway, similar to atypical HUS. Further studies are required to establish the efficacy and duration of eculizumab use in this patient population.

Molecular and clinical spectra of FBXL4 deficiency.

F-box and leucine-rich repeat protein 4 (FBXL4) is a mitochondrial protein whose exact function is not yet known. However, cellular studies have suggested that it plays significant roles in mitochondrial bioenergetics, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) maintenance, and mitochondrial dynamics. Biallelic pathogenic variants in FBXL4 are associated with an encephalopathic mtDNA maintenance defect syndrome that is a multisystem disease characterized by lactic acidemia, developmental delay, and hypotonia. Other features are feeding difficulties, growth failure, microcephaly, hyperammonemia, seizures, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, elevated liver transaminases, recurrent infections, variable distinctive facial features, white matter abnormalities and cerebral atrophy found in neuroimaging, combined deficiencies of multiple electron transport complexes, and mtDNA depletion. Since its initial description in 2013, 36 different pathogenic variants in FBXL4 were reported in 50 affected individuals. In this report, we present 37 additional affected individuals and 11 previously unreported pathogenic variants. We summarize the clinical features of all 87 individuals with FBXL4-related mtDNA maintenance defect, review FBXL4 structure and function, map the 47 pathogenic variants onto the gene structure to assess the variants distribution, and investigate the genotype-phenotype correlation. Finally, we provide future directions to understand the disease mechanism and identify treatment strategies.