J Korean Child Neurol Soc.  2003 May;11(1):163-167.

A Case of Exon 7 and 8 Deletion of Survival Motor Neuron Gene in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

• Kim YD
• Kim JC
• Hwang CK
• Lee KS

Abstract

Spinal muscular atrophy(SMA) is a genetic disorder of the motor neurons that cause muscular weakness and muscular atrophy due to anterior horn cell degeneration. Classic spinal muscular atrophy patient is caused by mutation in the chromosome 5(q11.2-q13.3), and the majority of the patient shows homozygous deletion of the telomeric survival motor neuron(SMN) gene in the chromosome 5. Deletion of exon 7 and 8 of the SMN gene and deletion of exon 4 and 5 of the neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein(NAIP) are typically observed in SMA patients. The SMN protein plays a role in an essential cell metabolism process, the splicing of pre mRNA in the spliceosomes. We report a 7 month old male with SMA. He showed rapidly aggrdvatial muscular weakness and died at 7 months. His DNA analysis proved deletion of exon 7 and 8 of the telomeric copy of the SMN gene.

Keyword

Spinal muscular atrophy; Survival motor neuron; Chromosome 5; Exon 7 and 8

MeSH Terms

Anterior Horn Cells
Apoptosis
Chromosomes, Human, Pair 5
DNA
Exons*
Humans
Infant
Male
Metabolism
Motor Neurons*
Muscle Weakness
Muscular Atrophy
Muscular Atrophy, Spinal*
Neurons
RNA Precursors
Spliceosomes
DNA
RNA Precursors