Evaluating the Causality of Novel Sequence Variants in the Prion Protein Gene by Example

The estimation of pathogenicity and penetrance of novel prion protein gene (PRNP) variants presents significant challenges, particularly in the absence of family history, which precludes the application of Mendelian segregation. Moreover, the ambiguities of prion disease pathophysiology renders conventional in silico predictions inconclusive. Here we describe two patients with rapid cognitive decline progressing to akinetic mutism and death within 10 weeks of symptom onset, both of whom possessed the novel T201S variant in PRNP.

Source: Neurobiology of Aging - May 14, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tze How Mok, Carolin Koriath, Zane Jaunmuktane, Tracy Campbell, Susan Joiner, Jonathan D.F. Wadsworth, Laszlo L.P. Hosszu, Sebastian Brandner, Ambereen Parvez, Thomas Clement Truelsen, Eva L øbner Lund, Romi Saha, John Collinge, Simon Mead Source Type: research