Association between survivor motor neuron 2 (SMN2) gene homozygous deletion and sporadic lower motor neuron disease in a Korean population.
The association between survivor motor neuron (SMN) gene deletions and motor neuron diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) suggest that sporadic lower motor neuron disease (LMND) may be related to SMN gene deletion. We examined the association between copy numbers of SMN and the risk of LMND among Koreans. We genotyped the copy number of SMN1 and SMN2 in 18 patients diagnosed with sporadic LMND and 100 neurologically healthy subjects using the multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) method. A total of eight SMN1:SMN2 genotypes (1:1, 1:3, 2:0, 2:1, 2:2, 2:3, 3:2, and 2:2/3:1 of exon7/exon8) were found. We found that homozygous deletion of SMN2 was significantly related to LMND (OR 20.7; 95% CI 2.8-150.5; p = 0.003). There was no significant difference in the distribution of the SMN1 copy number between the LMND patients and controls. In contrast to ALS, the risk of which is influenced by various factors other than SMN copy number itself, the association studies in LMND show a consistent finding that homozygous deletion of SMN2 may be specifically related to LMND, despite the small number of subjects.
Kim
Juwon
J
Dept. of Laboratory Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
Sang-Guk
SG
Choi
Young-Chul
YC
Kang
Seong-Woong
SW
Lee
Jun-Beom
JB
Choi
Jong Rak
JR
Lee
Kyung A
KA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D017353:Gene Deletion; D018628:Gene Dosage / Q000235:genetics; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006720:Homozygote; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008957:Models, Genetic; D016472:Motor Neuron Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D055533:Survival of Motor Neuron 1 Protein / Q000235:genetics; D055540:Survival of Motor Neuron 2 Protein / Q000235:genetics*
D055533:Survival of Motor Neuron 1 Protein; D055540:Survival of Motor Neuron 2 Protein