Background: Ataxia telangiectasia (A-T) is a devastating multi-system disorder characterized by progressive cerebellar ataxia, growth retardation, immunodeficiency, chronic pulmonary disease and chromosomal instability. Cutaneous granulomas are a known phenomenon in A-T but extra-dermal manifestation of granulomas at bone and synovia has not been reported so far. The clinical presentation, immunological findings, the long-term course and treatment options of eight patients with severe granulomas will be reported. Methods: From our cohort of 44 classical A-T patients, eight patients aged 2-11 years (18.2%) presented with granulomas. Immunological features of patients with and without granulomas were compared. Five patients suffered from cutaneous manifestation, in two patients we detected a bone and in one a joint involvement. Patients with significant extra-dermal involvement as well as one patient with massive skin manifestation were treated with TNF inhibitors. The patient with granulomas at his finger joint and elbow was treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Results: Interestingly, seven of eight patients with granulomas were total IgA deficient, but there were no differences in IgG and IgM levels. All lymphocytes subsets were equally distributed except patients with granuloma had significantly lower naïve CD8 cells. In patients without treatment, four of eight showed a slow but significant enlargement of the granuloma. Treatment success with TNF inhibitors was variable. In one patient, treatment with TNF inhibitors led to a total remission for 3 years up to now. In two patients, treatment with TNF inhibitors led to a partial regression of granulomas. Treatment interruptions caused deterioration again. Conclusions: Granulomas in A-T progress slowly over years and can lead to significant morbidity.Treatment with TNF inhibitors was safe and in part successful in our patients. Interestingly HSCT leads to complete remission, and indicates that aberrant immune function is responsible for granulomas in A-T patients. What This Study Adds to the Field: Granulomas in A-Tprogress slowly over years and can lead to significant morbidity. Treatment with TNF inhibitors was safe and in part successful in our patients. AT A GLANCE COMMENTARY: Scientific knowledge on the subject: Little is known about the clinical presentation, course and treatment of granulomas in ataxia telangiectasia (A-T). In addition, this is the first report of extra-dermal manifestation of granulomas at bone and synovia in patients with A-T. What This Study Adds to the Field: Granulomas in A-Tprogress slowly over years and can lead to significant morbidity. Treatment with TNF inhibitors was safe and in part successful in our patients.

Ataxia-telangiectasia is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder that was initially thought to present exclusively in childhood. With the discovery of the ATM gene, the phenotypic spectrum of the condition has expanded. This review elaborates the expanded phenomenology, including oculomotor apraxia and immunodeficiency, and estimates the presence of each movement disorder feature from previously reported literature. Initial manifestations of Ataxia-telangiectasia include cerebellar symptoms (67%), dystonia (18%), choreoathetosis (10%), and tremor (4%), with parkinsonism and myoclonus not reported as initial features. The prevalence of movement disorders during the course of the disease includes cerebellar symptoms (96%), dystonia (89%), parkinsonism (41%), choreoathetosis (89%), myoclonus (92%), and tremor (74%). Phenomenology and age of onset is modulated by presence of residual ATM kinase activity, with genotypes heavily truncating the ATM protein associated with the most severe phenotypes. Ataxia-telangiectasia commonly results in a spectrum of movement disordersbeyond ataxia and telangiectasias.

© 2018 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

BACKGROUND:

Ataxia telangiectasia (AT) is a neurodegenerative cerebellar disorder, caused by mutations in the ATM gene, involved in DNA repair. Radiosensitivity, progressive ataxia, immune deficiency and malignancies, are well known symptoms, but urological manifestations are scarcely described.

OBJECTIVE:

To characterize urologic manifestations in a large cohort of AT patients.

METHODS:

Retrospective cross-sectional chart study comprising 52 AT patients followed at a National AT Center.

RESULTS:

25% of the cohort (13 patients/8 males) had urologic symptoms, which presented at 11 ± 4.3 years. The most common symptom was secondary enuresis affecting 15% of the patients (8 children/4 males). Incontinence appeared at 8 ± 6.2 years of age, and resolved spontaneously within 15 ± 8.3 months in 6 patients. It preceded loss of ambulatory capacity by 1-2 years in 7 patients. Lumbosacral MRI were normal (4 children) and urine cultures (all) were negative. Urodynamic evaluation that was performed in only one patient revealed overactive bladder. Additional manifestations were macroscopic hematuria due to bladder telangiectasia in a 12-year-old, and renal cell carcinoma in a 22-year-old. Other manifestations unrelated to AT were neprolithiasis, vesico-ureteral reflux and scrotal pain, each in 1 patient.

DISCUSSION:

Transient secondary enuresis is a frequent finding in AT patients, heralding loss of ambulatory capacity, tough it's pathophysiological mechanism is largely no understood.

Copyright © 2018 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

BACKGROUND:

Ataxia telangiectasia (AT) is a rare, multi-systemic, genetic disorder. Mutations in the ATM gene cause dysfunction in cell-cycle, apoptosis and V (D) J recombination leading to neurodegeneration, cellular, humoral immunodeficiencies and predisposition to malignancies. Previous studies have suggested that a sub-group of AT patients with elevated IgM levels have a distinct and more severe phenotype. In the current study we aimed to better characterize this group of patients.

METHODS:

We performed a retrospective review of 46 patient records, followed from January 1986 to January 2015 at the Israeli National AT Center. Demographic, clinical, radiological, laboratory data was reviewed and compared between AT patients with elevated IgM levels (EIgM) and patients with normal IgM levels (NIgM).

RESULTS:

15/46(32.6%) patients had significantly elevated IgM levels. This group had a unique phenotype characterized mainly by increased risk of infection and early mortality. Colonization of lower respiratory tract with Mycobacterium gordonae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as viral skin infections were more frequent in EIgM patients. Patients with NIgM had a significantly longer survival as compared to patients with EIgM but had an increased incidence of fatty liver or cirrhosis. T-cell recombination excision circles and kappa-deleting element recombination circle levels were significantly lower in the EIgM group, suggesting an abnormal class switching in this group.

CONCLUSIONS:

EIgM in AT patients are indicative of a more severe phenotype that probably results from a specific immune dysfunction. EIgM in AT should be considered a unique AT phenotype that may require different management.

BACKGROUND:

Ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) is a well-known primary immunodeficiency with recurrent sinopulmonary infections and variable abnormalities in both the humoral and cellular immune system. Dysfunctions in immunoglobulin production, reduced number of B cells, and B-cell receptor excision circles copies have been reported. We aimed to understand the immunological mechanisms involving the humoral compartment in AT patients by analysing peripheral blood B cells subsets, B-T lymphocyte cooperation through the expression of CD40 and CD40 ligand (CD40L), and cytokines involved in class-switch recombination production.

METHODS:

We compared the proportion of B-cell subsets, the expression of CD40/CD40L, and the plasma levels of IL-6 and IFN-γ of 18 AT patients and 15 healthy age-sex-matched controls using flow cytometry.

RESULTS:

We found that some steps in peripheral B cell development were altered in AT with a pronounced reduction of cell-surface CD40 expression. The proportions of transitional and naïve-mature B cells were reduced, whereas CD21-low, natural effector memory, IgM-only memory, and IgG atypical memory B cells were present in a higher proportion.

CONCLUSIONS:

These findings revealed a disturbed B-cell homeostasis with unconventional maturation of B lymphocyte memory cells, which can explain the consequent impairment of humoral immunity.

Copyright © 2018 SEICAP. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by variants in ATM gene and characterized by progressive neurologic impairment, cerebellar ataxia, and oculo-cutaneous telangiectasia. Immunodeficiency with a recurrent sinopulmonary infections are observed in patients with A-T. Here, we report a novel stop codon variant, c.5944 C>T (p.Gln1982*), revealed by whole-exome sequencing in a 9-year old boy. He presented with recurrent upper respiratory tract infections, failure to thrive, developmental delay, ataxic gait, and bulbar telangiectasia.

Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is a multisystem disease caused by a genetic defect located on the long arm of chromosome 11 (11p22-23). The gene defect results in the loss of A-T-mutated protein, subsequently leading to unrepaired DNA fractures and defects in the signal transduction pathway. As a result, characteristic findings arise, including recurrent sinopulmonary infections, hypersensitivity against ionized radiation with the tendency to develop cancer related to progressive cerebellar ataxia, pathognomonic oculocutaneous telangiectasias, varying degrees of humoral and cellular immunodeficiency, and infertility. This case report presents a 3-year-old male patient with A-T who developed hemophagocytic syndrome. To the best of our knowledge, no such case has been previously reported.

INTRODUCTION:

Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T) syndrome is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by cerebellar ataxia, oculocutaneous telangiectasia, immunodeficiency, chromosome instability, radiosensitivity, and predisposition to malignancy. There is growing evidence that A-T patients suffer from pathologic inflammation that is responsible for many symptoms of this syndrome, including neurodegeneration, autoimmunity, cardiovascular disease, accelerated aging, and insulin resistance. In addition, epidemiological studies have shown A-T heterozygotes, somewhat like deficient patients, are susceptible to ionizing irradiation and have a higher risk of cancers and metabolic disorders.

AREA COVERED:

This review summarizes clinical and molecular findings of inflammation in A-Tsyndrome.

CONCLUSION:

Ataxia-Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM), a master regulator of the DNA damage response is the protein known to be associated with A-T and has a complex nuclear and cytoplasmic role. Loss of ATM function may induce immune deregulation and systemic inflammation.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is a rare neurodegenerative disease, due to A-T mutated (ATM) gene mutations, which typically presents with signs of progressive neurological dysfunction, cerebellar ataxia and uncoordinated movements. A-T severely affects patients' quality of life. Successful treatment options are still not available. The aim of this multicenter study, performed with a blind evaluation procedure, was to define the minimal effective dosage of oral betamethasone, thus preventing the occurrence of side effects.

METHODS:

Nine A-T patients were enrolled to receive betamethasone at increasing dosages of 0.001, 0.005 and 0.01 mg/kg/day. Neurological assessment and the evaluation of quality of life were performed through the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia and the Italian version of the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) at each time-point. The drug safety profile was evaluated. Patients were categorized as responders, partial responders and non-responders.

RESULTS:

Four of nine patients had a benefit at a dose of 0.005 mg/kg/day of oral betamethasone. Using the higher dosage, only one additional patient had a positive response. Conversely, a daily dose of 0.001 mg/kg was ineffective. A correlation between the serum adrenocorticotropic hormone levels and the clinical response was observed. Five of 30 CHAQ items improved in four patients.

CONCLUSIONS:

These data suggest that a short-term betamethasone oral treatment, at a daily dosage of 0.005 mg/kg, is effective in some patients. Pre-existing risk factors for side effects should be taken into account before therapy.

© 2018 EAN.

Ataxia telangiectasia (AT) is a rare genetic disease, still incurable, resulting from biallelic mutations in the ataxia telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) gene. Recently, short term treatment with glucocorticoid analogues improved neurological symptoms characteristic of this syndrome. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanism involved in glucocorticoid action in AT patients is not yet known. Here we describe, for the first time in mammalian cells, a short direct repeat-mediated noncanonical splicing event induced by dexamethasone, which leads to the skipping of mutations upstream of nucleotide residue 8450 of ATM coding sequence. The resulting transcript provides an alternative ORF translated in a new ATM variant with the complete kinase domain. This miniATM variant was also highlighted in lymphoblastoid cell lines from AT patients and was shown to be likely active. In conclusion, dexamethasone treatment may partly restore ATM activity in ataxia telangiectasia cells by a new molecular mechanism that overcomes most of the mutations so far described within this gene.

Hereditary deficiencies in DNA damage signaling are invariably associated with cancer predisposition, immunodeficiency, radiation sensitivity, gonadal abnormalities, premature aging, and tissue degeneration. ATM kinase has been established as a central player in DNA double-strand break repair and its deficiency causes ataxia telangiectasia, a rare, multi-system disease with no cure. So ATM represents a highly attractive target for the development of novel types of gene therapy or transplantation strategies. Atm tamoxifen-inducible mouse models were generated to explore whether Atm reconstitution is able to restore Atm function in an Atm-deficient background. Body weight, immunodeficiency, spermatogenesis, and radioresistance were recovered in transgenic mice within 1 month from Atm induction. Notably, life span was doubled after Atm restoration, mice were protected from thymoma and no cerebellar defects were observed. Atm signaling was functional after DNA damage in vivo and in vitro. In summary, we propose a new Atm mouse model to investigate novel therapeutic strategies for ATM activation in ataxia telangiectasia disease.

This study compared the antioxidant status and major lipophilic antioxidants in patients with ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) and Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS). Total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI), and concentrations of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and vitamins A and E were estimated in the plasma of 22 patients with AT, 12 children with NBS, and the healthy controls. In AT patients, TAS (median 261.7 μmol/L) was statistically lower but TOS (496.8 μmol/L) was significantly elevated in comparison with the healthy group (312.7 μmol/L and 311.2 μmol/L, resp.). Tocopherol (0.8 μg/mL) and CoQ10 (0.1 μg/mL) were reduced in AT patients versus control (1.4 μg/mL and 0.3 μg/mL, resp.). NBS patients also displayed statistically lower TAS levels (290.3 μmol/L), while TOS (404.8 μmol/L) was comparable to the controls. We found that in NBS patients retinol concentration (0.1 μg/mL) was highly elevated and CoQ10 (0.1 μg/mL) was significantly lower in comparison with those in the healthy group. Our study confirms disturbances in redox homeostasis in AT and NBS patients and indicates a need for diagnosing oxidative stress in those cases as a potential disease biomarker. Decreased CoQ10 concentration found in NBS and AT indicates a need for possible supplementation.

A 19-year-old ataxia-telangiectasia patient with T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia harbored 2 JAK3-activating hotspot mutations.The patient suffered toxicities with chemotherapy, but demonstrated a clinical response to novel use of a JAK3 inhibitor (tofacitinib).

OBJECTIVE:

Ataxia telangiectasia (A-T) is a rare genetic disease involving multiple organs, but, to our knowledge, data on long-term gastrointestinal and nutritional involvement are scarce. The aim of this study was to longitudinally review the nutritional and gastrointestinal aspects of A-T.

METHODS:

This was a retrospective chart review of patients followed from 1986 to 2015 at one center. Demographic, laboratory, and nutritional data were retrieved. Body mass index (BMI) values were converted to BMI Z-score (BMI-Z). Caloric intake was estimated by food diaries and compared with estimated energy requirements for sex and age with a physical activity level factor for light physical activity.

RESULTS:

The study included 53 patients (28 males [53%], ages 14.6 ± 5.2 y). BMI-Z was inversely correlated with age (r = 0.48; P < 0.004). A decline below minimal BMI percentiles was observed after the age of 4 y in boys and 7 y in girls. The relative percentage of caloric intake decreased with age (r = -0.5; P < 0.002), and was positively correlated with BMI-Z (r = 0.35; P < 0.05). Presence of cough during meals was associated with recurrent lower respiratory tract infections (Fisher exact test, P < 0.01). Gastrostomy tubes were inserted in 12 patients, leading to improvement in BMI-Z from -5.1 ± 2.4 to -4 ± 2.9 (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS:

There is a progressive growth failure and low nutritional intake with age in patients with A-T, starting in early childhood in males, and more prominent in patients with cough and choking during meals. A proactive approach and insertion of a percutaneous gastrostomy tube as soon as the BMI-Z starts to decrease should be considered.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ataxia Telangiectasia (AT) is named after the two key clinical features that characterize its classical phenotype, namely a progressive cerebellar gait disorder (ataxia) and vascular anomalies (telangiectasias) visible in the conjunctivae and skin. AT is an autosomal recessively inherited disorder, caused by mutations in the ATM gene that encodes the ATM protein. While the ataxia is subject of many publications, the telangiectasias are under emphasised. We here describe the observation that the absence or presence of ATM protein and the level of residual ATM kinase activity are related to the occurrence of telangiectasias and describe the clinical consequences of these vascular malformations. Finally, we hypothesize that ATM dysfunction dysregulates angiogenesis.

Ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) is a rare autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in the ATM gene with progressive neurological dysfunction, multisystem abnormalities and cancer predisposition. Classically, AT is associated with cerebellar ataxia, oculocutaneous telangiectasia and oculomotor apraxia. The aim of this review is to describe the movement disorders observed in patients with AT. Movement disorders in AT patients described in the literature are reviewed. The selected articles were analyzed with a focus on clinical presentation, presence of movement disorders, and atypical cases or variants of the syndrome. In AT patients, particularly adults, chorea and dystonia are the most common movement disorders, besides cerebellar ataxia. Myoclonus, tremor and parkinsonism have been described less frequently in patients with AT. Archetypal findings, such as oculocutaneous abnormalities may not be uniformly present. AT can present with different movement disorders, in isolation or combined, with or without cerebellar ataxia or oculocutaneous telangiectasias. Neurologists with expertise in movement disorders should be aware of AT when investigating patients with movement disorders of unknown etiology.

OBJECTIVE:

To investigate cerebellar dysfunctions and quantitatively characterize specific oculomotor changes in ataxia-telangiectasia-like disorder (ATLD), a rare autosomal recessive disease caused by mutations in the MRE11 gene. Additionally, to further elucidate the pathophysiology of cerebellar damage in the ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) spectrum disorders.

METHODS:

Saccade dynamics, metrics, and visual fixation deficits were investigated in two Italian adult siblings with genetically confirmed ATLD. Visually guided saccades were compared with those of 40 healthy subjects. Steady fixation was tested in primary and eccentric positions. Quantitative characterization of saccade parameters, saccadic intrusions (SI), and nystagmus was performed.

RESULTS:

Patients showed abnormally hypermetric and fast horizontal saccades to the left and greater inaccuracy than healthy subjects in all saccadic eye movements. Eye movement abnormalities included slow eye movements that preceded the initial saccade. Horizontal and vertical spontaneous jerk nystagmus, gaze-evoked, and rebound nystagmus were evident. Fixation was interrupted by large square-wave jerk SI and macrosaccadic oscillations.

CONCLUSION:

Slow eye movements accompanying saccades, SI, and cerebellar nystagmus are frequently seen in AT patients, additionally our ATLD patients showed the presence of fast and hypermetric saccades suggesting damage of granule cell-parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapses of the cerebellar vermis. A dual pathogenetic mechanism involving neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative changes is hypothesized to explain the peculiar phenotype of this disease.