title: Clinical and genetic data of Huntington disease in Moroccan patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Huntington's disease (HD) occurs worldwide with prevalence varying from 0.1 to 10/100,000 depending of the ethnic origin. Since no data is available in the Maghreb population, the aim of this study is to describe clinical and genetic characteristics of Huntington patients of Moroccan origin.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical and genetics data of 21 consecutive patients recruited from 2009 to 2014 from the outpatient clinic of six medical centers were analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty one patients from 17 families were diagnosed positive for the IT15 gene CAG expansion. Clinical symptoms were predominantly motor (19/21). Twelve patients had psychiatric and behavioral disorders, and 11 patients had cognitive disorders essentially of memory impairment. Analysis of genetic results showed that 5 patients had reduced penetrant (RP) alleles and 16 had fully penetrant (FP) alleles. The mean CAG repeat length in patients with RP alleles was 38.4 ± 0.54, and 45.37 ± 8.30 in FP alleles. The age of onset and the size of the CAG repeat length showed significant inverse correlation (p <0.001, r = -0.754).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinical and genetic data of Moroccan patients are similar to those of Caucasian populations previously reported in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Equipe de Recherche sur les Maladies Neurodégénératives, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Morocco; Service de Neurologie et de Neurogénétique, Hôpital des Spécialités de Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bouhouche
authors.affiliation: Equipe de Recherche sur les Maladies Neurodégénératives, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Morocco; Service de Neurologie et de Neurogénétique, Hôpital des Spécialités de Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Wafaa
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Regragui
authors.affiliation: Centre de diagnostic polyvalent, Salé, Morocco.
authors.forename: Hind
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lamghari
authors.affiliation: Centre de diagnostic, CHP, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Khadija
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Khaldi
authors.affiliation: Service de Neurophysiologie clinique, Hôpital des Spécialités de Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Nazha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Birouk
authors.affiliation: Service de Neurologie et de Neurogénétique, Hôpital des Spécialités de Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Safaa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lytim
authors.affiliation: Service de Neurologie et de Neuropsychologie, Hôpital des Spécialités de Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Soufiane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bellamine
authors.affiliation: Service de Pédiatrie, Hôpital d'enfant, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Yamna
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kriouile
authors.affiliation: Service de Neurologie et de Neurogénétique, Hôpital des Spécialités de Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Naima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bouslam
authors.affiliation: Equipe de Recherche sur les Maladies Neurodégénératives, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Morocco; Service de Neurologie et de Neurogénétique, Hôpital des Spécialités de Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: El Hachmia Ait Ben
authors.initials: el HA
authors.lastname: Haddou
authors.affiliation: Service de Neurologie et de Neuropsychologie, Hôpital des Spécialités de Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mustapha Alaoui
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Faris
authors.affiliation: Equipe de Recherche sur les Maladies Neurodégénératives, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Morocco; Service de Neurologie et de Neurogénétique, Hôpital des Spécialités de Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benomar
authors.affiliation: Equipe de Recherche sur les Maladies Neurodégénératives, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Morocco; Service de Neurologie et de Neurogénétique, Hôpital des Spécialités de Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yahyaoui
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D017668:Age of Onset; D000483:Alleles; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein / Q000235:genetics*; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D009018:Morocco / Q000453:epidemiology; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018911:Trinucleotide Repeats / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C086055:HTT protein, human; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein
keywords: Huntington disease/diagnosis; Huntington disease/epidemiology; Huntington disease/genetics; Trinucleotide repeat expansion