| Category | Genetic diseases, Rare diseases, Neuronal diseases, Skin diseases, Eye diseases, Mental diseases, Ear diseases, Metabolic diseases, Fetal diseases, Liver diseases |
| Phenotype | NIH Rare Diseases: Spinocerebellar ataxia type 31 (SCA31) is a very rare subtype of autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia type III (ADCA type III; see this term) characterized by the late-onset of cerebral ataxia, dysarthria and horizontal gaze nystagmus, and that is occasionally accompanied by pyramidal signs, tremor, decreased vibration sense and hearing difficulties. Epidemiology SCA31 is the third most common form of ADCA (see this term) in Japan, where more than 20 families have been reported to date. It is rarely found in other Asian countries and is extremely rare in Western countries. Clinical descriptionThe mean age of disease onset is 58 years but it can present between the ages of 8 to 83 years. Ataxia, dysarthria, and horizontal gaze nystagmus are the common manifestations of SCA31 and the disease duration can be more than 10 years. Less common manifestations include pyramidal signs, tremor, decreased vibration sense, and hearing difficulties.Etiology SCA31 is due to non-coding pentanucleotide repeat expansions in the BEAN1 gene (16q21), encoding protein BEAN1. Genetic counseling SCA31 is inherited autosomal dominantly with incomplete penetrance and genetic counseling is possible.
OMIM: Spinocerebellar ataxia type 31 (SCA31) is an autosomal-dominant cerebellar ataxia showing a Purkinje cell (PC)-predominant neurodegeneration in humans. The mutation is a complex penta-nucleotide repeat containing (TGGAA)n , (TAGAA)n , (TAAAA)n and (TAGAATAAAA)n inserted in an intron shared by two different genes BEAN1 and TK2 located in the long arm of the human chromosome 16. Previous studies have shown that (TGGAA)n is the critical component of SCA31 pathogenesis while the three other repeats, also present in normal Japanese, are not essential. Importantly, it has been shown that BEAN1 and TK2 are transcribed in mutually opposite directions in the human brain. Furthermore, abnormal RNA structures called "RNA foci" are observed by a probe against (UAGAAUAAAA)n in SCA31 patients' PC nuclei, indicating that the BEAN1-direction mutant transcript appears instrumental for the pathogenesis. However, it is not known whether the critical repeat (TGGAA)n contributes to the formation of RNA foci, neither do we understand how the RNA foci formation is relevant to the pathogenesis. To address these issues, we investigated two SCA31 cerebella by fluorescence in situ hybridization using a probe against (UGGAA)n . We also asked whether the mutant BEAN1-transcript containing (UGGAA)n exerts toxicity compared to the other three repeats in cultured cells. Histopathologically, we confirm that the PC is the main target of SCA31 pathogenesis. We find that the RNA foci containing (UGGAA)n are indeed observed in PC nuclei of both SCA31 patients, whereas similar foci were not observed in control individuals. In both transiently and stably expressed cultured cell models, we also find that the mutation transcribed in the BEAN1-direction yields more toxicity than control transcripts and forms RNA foci detected with probes against (UGGAA)n and (UAGAAUAAAA)n . Taking these findings together, we conclude that the RNA foci containing BEAN1-direction transcript (UGGAA)n are associated with PC degeneration in SCA31. |