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Cockayne syndrome: a case with hyperinsulinemia and growth hormone deficiency.

Cockayne syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of childhood characterized by cachectic dwarfism with senile-like appearance, mental retardation, photosensitive dermatitis, loss of adipose tissue, pigmentary degeneration of retina, microcephaly, deafness, skeletal and neurologic abnormalities. We describe here an 18 year old boy with Cockayne syndrome who had, in addition to the typical features of the disorder, fasting hyperinsulinemia and growth hormone deficiency.

Adolescent↗

Comparison of MRI white matter changes with neuropsychologic impairment in Cockayne syndrome.

The neuropsychologic function and white matter changes observed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in Cockayne syndrome were studied. MRI with T2-weighted sequences revealed periventricular hyperintensity and white matter hyperintensity in all 3 Cockayne syndrome patients examined; in contrast, 8 age-matched controls had no periventricular or white matter hyperintensity. MRI scans were graded according to the severity of periventricular or white matter hyperintensity using a scale applied to an elderly patient population. There was no difference in the severity of MRI white matter changes in these 3 Cockayne syndrome patients, 2 of whom had severe neuropsychologic functions and one a relatively milder one. There was no correlation between neuropsychologic impairment and MRI white matter changes.

Adolescent↗

Cockayne syndrome.

We report four cases of Cockayne Syndrome in a family of seven children. Apart from the usual clinical and laboratory features, sparse eye lashes and high arched palate in two patients, conjunctival and corneal edema in one, and proximal muscle weakness in one patient were noticed as additional findings.

Adolescent↗

Somatic cell mutation frequency at the HPRT, T-cell antigen receptor and glycophorin A loci in Cockayne syndrome.

Skin fibroblasts of patients with Cockayne syndrome (CS) are hypersensitive to the lethal or mutagenic effect of ultraviolet light, which may cause genetic instability. Up to now, however, no systematic study of in vivo somatic cell mutation in CS cells has been reported. This article describes our investigation of the mutation frequencies (Mfs) at three different loci, i.e. hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT), T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) and glycophorin A (GPA), in six patients with CS. Mfs at the HPRT and TCR loci were found to be within the normal range as determined in age-matched controls. In the GPA locus of two patients, there was a slight increase, but it was much smaller than that reported in other DNA repair deficient syndromes. The frequency of spontaneous HPRT mutation in Epstein-Barr virus transformed B-lymphoblastoid cells derived from CS patients was similar to that in cells from normal children. The molecular characterization of the representative HPRT mutant T cell clones from CS patients did not show any structural alterations. These results may explain, at least in part, why CS is not associated with predisposition to cancer.

Adolescent↗

Genetic complementation groups in cockayne syndrome.

Skin fibroblasts from patients with cockayne syndrome (CS cell) exhibited marked ultraviolet (UV) sensitivity as measured by colony-forming ability. Further, recovery of semiconservative DNA synthesis following UV irradiation was absent in CS cells, as it is in xeroderma pigmentosum cells. We found that the rate of semiconservative DNA synthesis measured at 12 h after 12 J/m2 of UV irradiation had recovered to nearly normal levels in binuclear cells obtained by the fusion of CS strains CS3BE (GM 1856) and CS7SE (GM1428) and of CS3BE (GM1856) and CS1BE (GM1629), but not of C57SE (GM1428) and CS1BE (GM1629). These results indicate that there are at least two genetic complementation groups in CS.

Cell Line↗

UVB radiation-induced cancer predisposition in Cockayne syndrome group A (Csa) mutant mice.

Cockayne syndrome (CS) is an inherited photosensitive neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a specific defect in the transcription-coupled repair (TCR) sub-pathway of NER. Remarkably, despite their DNA repair deficiency, CS patients do not develop skin cancer. Here, we present a mouse model for CS complementation group A. Like cells from CS-A patients, Csa-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs): (i) are ultraviolet (UV)-sensitive; (ii) show normal unscheduled DNA synthesis (indicating that the global genome repair sub-pathway is unaffected); (iii) fail to resume RNA synthesis after UV-exposure and (iv) are unable to remove cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) photolesions from the transcribed strand of active genes. CS-A mice exhibit UV-sensitivity and pronounced age-dependent loss of retinal photoreceptor cells but otherwise fail to show the severe developmental and neurological abnormalities of the human syndrome. In contrast to human CS, Csa-/- animals develop skin tumors after chronic exposure to UV light, indicating that TCR in mice protects from UV-induced skin cancer development. Strikingly, inactivation of one Xpc allele (encoding a component of the damage recognition complex involved in the global genome repair sub-pathway) in Csa-/- mice resulted in a strongly enhanced UV-mediated skin cancer sensitivity, indicating that in a TC repair defective background, the Xpc gene product may be a rate-limiting factor in the removal of UV-induced DNA lesions.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Sequence-specific and domain-specific DNA repair in xeroderma pigmentosum and Cockayne syndrome cells.

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and Cockayne syndrome (CS) cells have specific DNA repair defects. We had previously analyzed repair rates of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers at nucleotide resolution along the human JUN gene in normal fibroblasts and found very efficient repair of sequences near the transcription initiation site but slow repair along the promoter. To investigate sequence-specific repair rate patterns in XP and CS cells, we conducted a similar analysis in XPA, XPB, XPC, XPD, and CSB fibroblasts. XPA cells were almost completely repair-deficient at all sequences analyzed. XPC cells repaired only the transcribed DNA strand beginning at position -20 relative to the transcription start site. Both XBP and XPD cells were deficient in repair of nontranscribed DNA and also very inefficiently repaired the transcribed strand including sequences near the transcription start site. CSB cells exhibited rapid repair near the transcription initiation site but were deficient in repair of sequences encountered by RNA polymerase during elongation (beginning at position +20). Since transcription of the JUN gene was UV-induced in all fibroblast strains, including CSB, the defective repair of the transcribed strand in CSB cannot be explained by a lack of transcription; rather, it appears to be a true DNA repair defect.

Base Sequence↗

DNA repair-deficient diseases, xeroderma pigmentosum, Cockayne syndrome and trichothiodystrophy.

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), Cockayne syndrome (CS) and trichothiodystrophy (TTD) are genetic disorders with very different clinical features, but all associated with defects in nucleotide excision repair. Defects in the XPA or XPC genes confer sensitivity to UV carcinogenesis in both humans and mice, but only XPA(-/-) mice have increased acute responses to UV exposure, whereas XPC(-/-) mice are normal in this respect. Both XPE and XPF proteins have functions separate from their role in NER, but the exact nature of these functions has not yet been established. The CSA and CSB genes responsible for CS are both components of complexes associated with RNA polymerase II and their role is thought to be in assisting polII in dealing with transcription blocks. XPB and XPD proteins are components of transcription factor TFIIH, which is involved in both basal and activated transcription. XPB is part of the core of TFIIH and has a central role in transcription, whereas XPD connects the core to the CAK subcomplex, and can tolerate many different mutations. Subtle differences in the effects of these different mutations on the many activities of TFIIH and on its stability determine the clinical outcomes, which can be XP, TTD, XP with CS, XP with TTD or COFS. Features of single and double mutant mice indicate that the neurological and ageing features associated with these disorders result from the defects in NER in association with the transcriptional deficiencies. Skin tumours in XP patients have mutations characteristic of UV-induction in the ras, p53 and ptch genes, showing that sunlight-induced mutations in these genes are important in carcinogenesis in XP patients.

Aging↗

Alterations in the CSB gene in three Italian patients with the severe form of Cockayne syndrome (CS) but without clinical photosensitivity.

Cockayne syndrome (CS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by postnatal growth failure, mental retardation and otherwise clinically heterogeneous features which commonly include cutaneous photosensitivity. Cultured cells from sun-sensitive CS patients are hypersensitive to ultraviolet (UV) light and, following UV irradiation, are unable to restore RNA synthesis rates to normal levels. This has been attributed to a specific deficiency in CS cells in the ability to carry out preferential repair of damage in actively transcribed regions of DNA. We report here a cellular and molecular analysis of three Italian CS patients who were of particular interest because none of them was sun-sensitive, despite showing most of the features of the severe form of CS, including the characteristic cellular sensitivity to UV irradiation. They all were altered in the CSB gene. The genetically related patients CS1PV and CS3PV were homozygous for the C1436T transition resulting in the change Arg453opal. Patient CS2PV was a compound heterozygote for two new causative mutations, insertions of an A at position 1051 and of TGTC at 2053, leading to truncated proteins of 367 and 681 amino acids. These mutations result in severely truncated proteins, as do many of those that we previously identified in several sun-sensitive CS-B patients. These observations confirm that the CSB gene is not essential for viability and cell proliferation, an important issue to be considered in any speculation on the recently proposed additional function of the CSB protein in transcription. Our investigations provide data supporting the notion that other factors, besides the site of the mutation, influence the type and severity of the CS clinical features.

Child, Preschool↗

Cockayne syndrome and xeroderma pigmentosum.

OBJECTIVES: To review genetic variants of Cockayne syndrome (CS) and xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), autosomal recessive disorders of DNA repair that affect the nervous system, and to illustrate them by the first case of xeroderma pigmentosum-Cockayne syndrome (XP-CS) complex to undergo neuropathologic examination. METHODS: Published reports of clinical, pathologic, and molecular studies of CS, XP neurologic disease, and the XP-CS complex were reviewed, and a ninth case of XP-CS is summarized. RESULTS: CS is a multisystem disorder that causes both profound growth failure of the soma and brain and progressive cachexia, retinal, cochlear, and neurologic degeneration, with a leukodystrophy and demyelinating neuropathy without an increase in cancer. XP presents as extreme photosensitivity of the skin and eyes with a 1000-fold increased frequency of cutaneous basal and squamous cell carcinomas and melanomas and a small increase in nervous system neoplasms. Some 20% of patients with XP incur progressive degeneration of previously normally developed neurons resulting in cortical, basal ganglia, cerebellar, and spinal atrophy, cochlear degeneration, and a mixed distal axonal neuropathy. Cultured cells from patients with CS or XP are hypersensitive to killing by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Both CS and most XP cells have defective DNA nucleotide excision repair of actively transcribing genes; in addition, XP cells have defective repair of the global genome. There are two complementation groups in CS and seven in XP. Patients with the XP-CS complex fall into three XP complementation groups. Despite their XP genotype, six of nine individuals with the XP-CS complex, including the boy we followed up to his death at age 6, had the typical clinically and pathologically severe CS phenotype. Cultured skin and blood cells had extreme sensitivity to killing by UV radiation, DNA repair was severely deficient, post-UV unscheduled DNA synthesis was reduced to less than 5%, and post-UV plasmid mutation frequency was increased. CONCLUSIONS: The paradoxical lack of parallelism of phenotype to genotype is unexplained in these disorders. Perhaps diverse mutations responsible for UV sensitivity and deficient DNA repair may also produce profound failure of brain and somatic growth, progressive cachexia and premature aging, and tissue-selective neurologic deterioration by their roles in regulation of transcription and repair of endogenous oxidative DNA damage.

Cockayne Syndrome↗

Cockayne syndrome: a case report.

A 4-year-old female with Cockayne syndrome presented for cataract extraction under general anesthesia. She was thin and frail; her neck, epiglottis and larynx were stiff; she was deaf and blind; and she could not speak, sit unaided, or perspire. At the time of her admission, she weighed 5.5 kg. Cockayne syndrome is a disease of childhood characterized by mental retardation and premature aging. Although the underlying abnormality appears to be autosomal recessive inheritance or metabolic (possibly thymic) dysfunction, there is no consensus on etiology. The multiple organ involvement carries significant implications for the anesthetist. Intubation can be technically difficult, and care of the skin can be problematic. Essential hypertension, hepatic deficiencies, osteoporosis, deafness, blindness, and other effects of premature aging may be encountered making perioperative management a challenge.

Anesthesia, General↗

CSA-dependent degradation of CSB by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway establishes a link between complementation factors of the Cockayne syndrome.

Mutations in the CSA or CSB complementation genes cause the Cockayne syndrome, a severe genetic disorder that results in patients' death in early adulthood. CSA and CSB act in a transcription-coupled repair (TCR) pathway, but their functional relationship is not understood. We have previously shown that CSA is a subunit of an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. Here we demonstrate that CSB is a substrate of this ligase: Following UV irradiation, CSB is degraded at a late stage of the repair process in a proteasome- and CSA-dependent manner. Moreover, we demonstrate the importance of CSB degradation for post-TCR recovery of transcription and for the Cockayne syndrome. Our results unravel for the first time the functional relationship between CSA and CSB.

Cockayne Syndrome↗

[Ocular manifestations in a patient with Cockayne syndrome and simultaneous reduced DNA repair].

A 14 year old white boy presented with the typical clinical findings of Cockayne syndrome. Photodermatosis was known since the third week of life. He had disproportionate short stature with a short trunk, long limbs and flexion contractures of the large joints. He also was cachectic and prematurely aged. He had a typical facies. The hearing was slightly impaired. The prominent ocular findings were corneal opacifications, salt and pepper like retinal pigment epithelial changes and optic atrophy. On fibroblast culture the DNA repair activity is usually normal in patients with Cockayne syndrome. The DNA repair activity in our patient however was markedly reduced to 25% of normal. On lymphocyte culture a significantly increased 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide sensitivity (cytotoxicity and increased break-rate) was found. These findings indicate that the boy has a specific variant of Cockayne syndrome with simultaneously reduced DNA-repair activity.

Adolescent↗

[Cockayne syndrome in Lebanon. Description of 3 cases and review of the literature].

Cockayne syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive progressive neurological disorder characterized by a nanism, a major cachexy, a characteristic facial appearance of premature ageing, a sun-sensitivity, a retinopathy, and a mental retardation. We report three observations of Cockayne syndrome. The diagnostic criteria, notably clinical, found in these patients are discussed in comparison to the literature.

Aging, Premature↗

[Four cases of Cockayne syndrome].

The evaluation of four patients with Cockayne syndrome (CS) by computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is reported. All patients had characteristic clinical manifestations of CS. In a special respect, we found hyperopia in two patients and previous habitual abortions in two maternal histories. Extrapyramidal signs were seen in one patient. Three patients are type 1 CS (case 1, 3, 4) and one patient (case 2) is type 2 CS (congenital form). The cranial CT in two patients (case 1, 2) revealed prominent calcifications in basal ganglia, dentate nucleus and hemispheric white matter. While CT showed vagal calcifications in basal ganglia in other two patients (case 3, 4), T2-weighted MRI revealed obvious low intensity area in putamen and caudate nucleus, and high intensity area in the white matter. Sagittal section revealed atrophic changes of cerebellar vermis and brain stem. Thus it seems that MRI may be useful diagnostic adjunct in CS patients.

Brain↗

Oxidative nucleotide damage and superoxide dismutase expression in the brains of xeroderma pigmentosum group A and Cockayne syndrome.

Xeroderma pigmentosum group A (XPA) and Cockayne syndrome (CS) are caused by a genetic defect of nucleotide excision repair mechanisms, showing cutaneous hypersensitivity to sunlight and progressive neurological disturbances. The cause of neurological abnormalities has yet to be clarified and fundamental treatments have never been established in both disorders. In order to investigate neurodegeneration of XPA and CS, we immunohistochemically examined deposition of oxidative stress-related materials of nucleotides and expression of two types of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the brains from autopsy cases of XPA and CS. Cases of XPA but not CS demonstrated nuclear deposition of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine and cytoplasmic deposition of 8-hydroxyguanosine, being speculated as oxidative stress-related materials of DNA and RNA, respectively, in the globus pallidus. Four of five XPA cases exhibited reduced neuronal immunoreactivity for Cu/ZnSOD in the cerebral and cerebellar corteces in addition to the basal ganglia, and two XPA cases showed reduced immunoreactivity for MnSOD in the brain regions examined. In contrast, five CS cases demonstrated comparatively preserved immunoreactivity for Cu/ZnSOD and MnSOD. Both XPA and CS cases showed increased cytoplasmic immunoreactivity for Cu/ZnSOD and/or MnSOD in the microglial cells in the cerebral and cerebellar white matters. These findings suggest that oxidative damage to nucleotides and disturbed SOD expression can be involved in neurodegeneration in XPA but not CS.

8-Hydroxy-2'-Deoxyguanosine↗

Retinal degeneration and ionizing radiation hypersensitivity in a mouse model for Cockayne syndrome.

Mutations in the CSB gene cause Cockayne syndrome (CS), a DNA repair disorder characterized by UV sensitivity and severe physical and neurological impairment. CSB functions in the transcription-coupled repair subpathway of nucleotide excision repair. This function may explain the UV sensitivity but hardly clarifies the other CS symptoms. Many of these, including retinopathy, are associated with premature aging. We studied eye pathology in a mouse model for CS. Csb(m/m) mice were hypersensitive to UV light and developed epithelial hyperplasia and squamous cell carcinomas in the cornea, which underscores the importance of transcription-coupled repair of photolesions in the mouse. In addition, we observed a spontaneous loss of retinal photoreceptor cells with age in the Csb(m/m) retina, resulting in a 60% decrease in the number of rods by the age of 18 months. Importantly, when Csb(m/m) mice (as well as Csa(-/-) mice) were exposed to 10 Gy of ionizing radiation, we noticed an increase in apoptotic photoreceptor cells, which was not observed in wild-type animals. This finding, together with our observation that the expression of established oxidative stress marker genes is upregulated in the Csb(m/m) retina, suggests that (endogenous) oxidative DNA lesions play a role in this CS-specific premature-aging feature and supports the oxidative DNA damage theory of aging.

Animals↗