Frequent low penetrance mutations in the Lamin A/C gene, causing Emery Dreifuss muscular dystrophy.
Emery Dreifuss muscular dystrophy is a genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by the clinical triad of early onset contractures, progressive muscular wasting and weakness with humeroperoneal distribution and cardiac conduction defects. Mutations in the Lamin A/C (LMNA) gene are responsible for the autosomal dominant and the autosomal recessive forms. Familiar and sporadic patients carrying mutations in the LMNA gene show high variability in the clinical symptomatology and age of onset. In this report, we describe four families harboring missense mutations in the LMNA gene and we show that the effect of mutations ranges from silent to fully penetrant. We suggest that incomplete penetrance of dominant mutations in the LMNA gene is a common feature and we emphasize the significance of mutational analysis in relatives of sporadic cases of laminopathies, as asymptomatic carriers face high risk of sudden cardiac death.
Vytopil
Michal
M
Institute of Molecular Genetics-CNR, Via Abbiategrasso, 207, 27100, Pavia, Italy.
Ricci
Enzo
E
Dello Russo
Antonio
A
Hanisch
Frank
F
Neudecker
Stephan
S
Zierz
Stephan
S
Ricotti
Roberta
R
Demay
Laurence
L
Richard
Pascale
P
Wehnert
Manfred
M
Bonne
Gisèle
G
Merlini
Luciano
L
Toniolo
Daniela
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000378:metabolism; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis / Q000379:methods; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D005799:Genes, Dominant; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D034904:Lamin Type A / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D020389:Muscular Dystrophy, Emery-Dreifuss / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D010375:Pedigree; D019683:Penetrance
D034904:Lamin Type A; C440308:lamin C; D003402:Creatine Kinase