[From gene to disease: from the ABCA4 gene to Stargardt disease, cone-rod dystrophy and retinitis pigmentosa].

Abstract

Autosomal recessive Stargardt disease is caused by mutations in the ABCA4 gene. Mutations in ABCA4 are also found in two-thirds of cases with autosomal recessive cone-rod dystrophy, and a small fraction of patients with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa. Patients with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa, the most severe of these three phenotypes, invariably carry ABCA4 inactivating mutations; patients with autosomal recessive cone-rod dystrophy and Stargardt disease carry combinations of mutations that do not completely inactivate the retina specific 'ATP-binding cassette transporter' (ABCR) protein. DNA diagnostics is complicated by the high allelic heterogeneity and the uncertainty as to whether some ABCA4 variants are pathological. Nevertheless, ABCA4 mutation analysis is particularly important for patients with cone-rod dystrophy to confirm the autosomal recessive mode of inheritance.

• Authors: F P M Cremers, A Maugeri, B J Klevering, L H Hoefsloot, C B Hoyng
• Journal: Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde (Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd) Vol. 146 Issue 34 Pg. 1581-4 (Aug 24 2002) ISSN: 0028-2162 [Print] Netherlands
• Vernacular Title: Van gen naar ziekte; van het ABCA4-gen naar de ziekte van Stargardt, kegel-stavendystrofie en retinitis pigmentosa.
• PMID: 12224481 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• ABCA4 protein, human
• ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters

Topics

• ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters (genetics)
• Fundus Oculi
• Genes, Recessive (genetics)
• Humans
• Macular Degeneration (genetics)
• Mutation
• Netherlands
• Retinal Degeneration (genetics)
• Retinitis Pigmentosa (genetics)