J Clin Neurol.  2006 Dec;2(4):268-271. 10.3988/jcn.2006.2.4.268.

Episodic Ataxia Type 2 due to a Deletion Mutation in the CACNA1A Gene in a Korean Family

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Korea. brain@snu.ac.kr
  • 2Department of Laboratory Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Korea.

Abstract

Episodic ataxia type 2 (EA-2) is an inherited disorder that is characterized by intermittent vertigo, ataxia, and interictal gaze-evoked nystagmus. Although abnormalities associated with this disorder have been found in the CACNA1A gene encoding the alpha1A (Cav2.1) subunit of the P/Q-type calcium channel, there are few reports of genetically confirmed EA-2 in Korea. In 1998, a Korean family with acetazolamide-responsive hereditary paroxysmal ataxia was reported, but the genetic background was not defined at that time. In the present study we performed direct sequencing of the entire exons and their flanking intronic sequences of the CACNA1A gene and found a deletion mutation (c.2042_2043delAG).

Keyword

Episodic ataxia type 2; CACNA1A; Korea

MeSH Terms

Ataxia*
Calcium Channels
Exons
Humans
Introns
Korea
Sequence Deletion*
Vertigo
Calcium Channels

Figure

  • Figure 1 Pedigree of a family with episodic ataxia type 2.

  • Figure 2 Mutation analysis of the CACNA1A gene. Direct sequencing of exon 16 shows overlapped peaks (arrow) from nucleotide position 2042 due to a heterozygous 2-base-pair deletion (c.2042_2043delAG; p.Gln681ArgfsX16). The proband's son and one of his two daughters also had the same mutation.


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