title: CAG repeat number correlates with the rate of brainstem and cerebellar atrophy in Machado-Joseph disease.
abstract: We compared the CAG repeat length and the severity of the brainstem and cerebellar atrophy visualized by MRI in 30 patients with Machado-Joseph disease. We found a strong correlation between the CAG repeat number and the quotient of the degree of atrophy divided by age at examination. These results suggest that the rate of disease progression is dependent on the CAG repeat size and disease progression may commence at birth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Doyu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirayama
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kachi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sobue
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000473:pathology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000473:pathology*; D002883:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14; D006801:Humans; D017827:Machado-Joseph Disease / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D018911:Trinucleotide Repeats