Journal
GENETICS IN MEDICINE
Volume 12, Issue 3, Pages 145-152Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1097/GIM.0b013e3181c5e713
Keywords
spinal muscular atrophy; survival motor neuron; SMN1; SMN2; genetic testing; carrier testing
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Spinal muscular atrophy is an autosomal recessive neurode-enerative disease and the most common genetic cause of infant mortality. The disease results in motor neuron loss and skeletal muscle atrophy. Spinal muscular atrophy is caused by mutations in the telomeric copy of the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene, but all patients retain a centromeric copy of the gene, SMN2. In the majority of cases, the disease severity correlates inversely with an increased SMN2 gene copy number. Because spinal muscular atrophy is both a severe and common disorder, a direct carrier testing has been beneficial to many families. The survival motor neuron protein is ubiquitously expressed and performs a role in the assembly of the spliceosome. It is still not understood why mutations in the SMN1 gene only seem to affect motor neurons. Progress has been made by developing therapeutic strategies based on understanding the pathogenesis of the disease. This review attempts to highlight some of the recent advances in the understanding of the disease with a focus on molecular diagnostics. Genet Med 2010:12(3):145-152.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available