MedGen

Krabbe disease comprises a spectrum ranging from infantile-onset disease (i.e., onset of extreme irritability, spasticity, and developmental delay before age 12 months) to later-onset disease (i.e., onset of manifestations after age 12 months and as late as the seventh decade). Although historically 85%-90% of symptomatic individuals with Krabbe disease diagnosed by enzyme activity alone have infantile-onset Krabbe disease and 10%-15% have later-onset Krabbe disease, the experience with newborn screening (NBS) suggests that the proportion of individuals with possible later-onset Krabbe disease is higher than previously thought. Infantile-onset Krabbe disease is characterized by normal development in the first few months followed by rapid severe neurologic deterioration; the average age of death is 24 months (range 8 months to 9 years). Later-onset Krabbe disease is much more variable in its presentation and disease course. [from GeneReviews]

Mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I) is a progressive multisystem disorder with features ranging over a continuum of severity. While affected individuals have traditionally been classified as having one of three MPS I syndromes (Hurler syndrome, Hurler-Scheie syndrome, or Scheie syndrome), no easily measurable biochemical differences have been identified and the clinical findings overlap. Affected individuals are best described as having either a phenotype consistent with either severe (Hurler syndrome) or attenuated MPS I, a distinction that influences therapeutic options. Severe MPS I. Infants appear normal at birth. Typical early manifestations are nonspecific (e.g., umbilical or inguinal hernia, frequent upper respiratory tract infections before age 1 year). Coarsening of the facial features may not become apparent until after age one year. Gibbus deformity of the lower spine is common and often noted within the first year. Progressive skeletal dysplasia (dysostosis multiplex) involving all bones is universal, as is progressive arthropathy involving most joints. By age three years, linear growth decreases. Intellectual disability is progressive and profound but may not be readily apparent in the first year of life. Progressive cardiorespiratory involvement, hearing loss, and corneal clouding are common. Without treatment, death (typically from cardiorespiratory failure) usually occurs within the first ten years of life. Attenuated MPS I. Clinical onset is usually between ages three and ten years. The severity and rate of disease progression range from serious life-threatening complications leading to death in the second to third decade, to a normal life span complicated by significant disability from progressive joint manifestations and cardiorespiratory disease. While some individuals have no neurologic involvement and psychomotor development may be normal in early childhood, learning disabilities and psychiatric manifestations can be present later in life. Hearing loss, cardiac valvular disease, respiratory involvement, and corneal clouding are common. [from GeneReviews]

Mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II; also known as Hunter syndrome) is an X-linked multisystem disorder characterized by glycosaminoglycan (GAG) accumulation. The vast majority of affected individuals are male; on rare occasion heterozygous females manifest findings. Age of onset, disease severity, and rate of progression vary significantly among affected males. In those with early progressive disease, CNS involvement (manifest primarily by progressive cognitive deterioration), progressive airway disease, and cardiac disease usually result in death in the first or second decade of life. In those with slowly progressive disease, the CNS is not (or is minimally) affected, although the effect of GAG accumulation on other organ systems may be early progressive to the same degree as in those who have progressive cognitive decline. Survival into the early adult years with normal intelligence is common in the slowly progressing form of the disease. Additional findings in both forms of MPS II include: short stature; macrocephaly with or without communicating hydrocephalus; macroglossia; hoarse voice; conductive and sensorineural hearing loss; hepatosplenomegaly; dysostosis multiplex; spinal stenosis; and carpal tunnel syndrome. [from GeneReviews]

Apert syndrome is characterized by the presence of multisuture craniosynostosis, midface retrusion, and syndactyly of the hands with fusion of the second through fourth nails. Almost all affected individuals have coronal craniosynostosis, and a majority also have involvement of the sagittal and lambdoid sutures. The midface in Apert syndrome is underdeveloped as well as retruded; a subset of affected individuals have cleft palate. The hand in Apert syndrome always includes fusion of the middle three digits; the thumb and fifth finger are sometimes also involved. Feeding issues, dental abnormalities, hearing loss, hyperhidrosis, and progressive synostosis of multiple bones (skull, hands, feet, carpus, tarsus, and cervical vertebrae) are also common. Multilevel airway obstruction may be present and can be due to narrowing of the nasal passages, tongue-based airway obstruction, and/or tracheal anomalies. Nonprogressive ventriculomegaly is present in a majority of individuals, with a small subset having true hydrocephalus. Most individuals with Apert syndrome have normal intelligence or mild intellectual disability; moderate-to-severe intellectual disability has been reported in some individuals. A minority of affected individuals have structural cardiac abnormalities, true gastrointestinal malformations, and anomalies of the genitourinary tract. [from GeneReviews]

Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) is a multisystem disorder characterized by multiple café au lait macules, intertriginous freckling, multiple cutaneous neurofibromas, and learning disability or behavior problems. About half of people with NF1 have plexiform neurofibromas, but most are internal and not suspected clinically. Plexiform neurofibromas can cause pain, neurologic deficits, and abnormalities of involved or adjacent structures. Less common but potentially more serious manifestations include optic nerve and other central nervous system gliomas, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, scoliosis, tibial dysplasia, vasculopathy, and gastrointestinal, endocrine, or pulmonary disease. [from GeneReviews]

Achondroplasia is the most common cause of disproportionate short stature. Affected individuals have rhizomelic shortening of the limbs, macrocephaly, and characteristic facial features with frontal bossing and midface retrusion. In infancy, hypotonia is typical, and acquisition of developmental motor milestones is often both aberrant in pattern and delayed. Intelligence and life span are usually near normal, although craniocervical junction compression increases the risk of death in infancy. Additional complications include obstructive sleep apnea, middle ear dysfunction, kyphosis, and spinal stenosis. [from GeneReviews]

Disorders of intracellular cobalamin metabolism have a variable phenotype and age of onset that are influenced by the severity and location within the pathway of the defect. The prototype and best understood phenotype is cblC; it is also the most common of these disorders. The age of initial presentation of cblC spans a wide range: In utero with fetal presentation of nonimmune hydrops, cardiomyopathy, and intrauterine growth restriction. Newborns, who can have microcephaly, poor feeding, and encephalopathy. Infants, who can have poor feeding and slow growth, neurologic abnormality, and, rarely, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Toddlers, who can have poor growth, progressive microcephaly, cytopenias (including megaloblastic anemia), global developmental delay, encephalopathy, and neurologic signs such as hypotonia and seizures. Adolescents and adults, who can have neuropsychiatric symptoms, progressive cognitive decline, thromboembolic complications, and/or subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord. [from GeneReviews]

While the majority of individuals with Costello syndrome share characteristic findings affecting multiple organ systems, the phenotypic spectrum is wide, ranging from a milder or attenuated phenotype to a severe phenotype with early lethal complications. Costello syndrome is typically characterized by failure to thrive in infancy as a result of severe postnatal feeding difficulties; short stature; developmental delay or intellectual disability; coarse facial features (full lips, large mouth, full nasal tip); curly or sparse, fine hair; loose, soft skin with deep palmar and plantar creases; papillomata of the face and perianal region; diffuse hypotonia and joint laxity with ulnar deviation of the wrists and fingers; tight Achilles tendons; and cardiac involvement including: cardiac hypertrophy (usually typical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), congenital heart defect (usually valvar pulmonic stenosis), and arrhythmia (usually supraventricular tachycardia, especially chaotic atrial rhythm/multifocal atrial tachycardia or ectopic atrial tachycardia). Relative or absolute macrocephaly is typical, and postnatal cerebellar overgrowth can result in the development of a Chiari I malformation with associated anomalies including hydrocephalus or syringomyelia. Individuals with Costello syndrome have an approximately 15% lifetime risk for malignant tumors including rhabdomyosarcoma and neuroblastoma in young children and transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder in adolescents and young adults. [from GeneReviews]

ESCO2 spectrum disorder is characterized by mild-to-severe prenatal growth restriction, limb malformations (which can include bilateral symmetric tetraphocomelia or hypomelia caused by mesomelic shortening), hand anomalies (including oligodactyly, thumb aplasia or hypoplasia, and syndactyly), elbow and knee flexion contractures (involving elbows, wrists, knees, ankles, and feet [talipes equinovarus]), and craniofacial abnormalities (which can include bilateral cleft lip and/or cleft palate, micrognathia, widely spaced eyes, exophthalmos, downslanted palpebral fissures, malar flattening, and underdeveloped ala nasi), ear malformation, and corneal opacities. Intellectual disability (ranging from mild to severe) is common. Early mortality is common among severely affected pregnancies and newborns; mildly affected individuals may survive to adulthood. [from GeneReviews]

X-linked myotubular myopathy (X-MTM), also known as myotubular myopathy (MTM), is characterized by muscle weakness that ranges from severe to mild. Approximately 80% of affected males present with severe (classic) X-MTM characterized by polyhydramnios, decreased fetal movement, and neonatal weakness, hypotonia, and respiratory failure. Motor milestones are significantly delayed and most individuals fail to achieve independent ambulation. Weakness is profound and often involves facial and extraocular muscles. Respiratory failure is nearly uniform, with most individuals requiring 24-hour ventilatory assistance. It is estimated that at least 25% of boys with severe X-MTM die in the first year of life, and those who survive rarely live into adulthood. Males with mild or moderate X-MTM (~20%) achieve motor milestones more quickly than males with the severe form; many ambulate independently, and may live into adulthood. Most require gastrostomy tubes and/or ventilator support. In all subtypes of X-MTM, the muscle disease is not obviously progressive. Female carriers of X-MTM are generally asymptomatic, although manifesting heterozygotes are increasingly being identified. In affected females, symptoms range from severe, generalized weakness presenting in childhood, with infantile onset similar to affected male patients, to mild (often asymmetric) weakness manifesting in adulthood. Affected adult females may experience progressive respiratory decline and ultimately require ventilatory support. [from GeneReviews]

Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome type 1 (SGBS1) is characterized by pre- and postnatal macrosomia; distinctive craniofacial features (including macrocephaly, coarse facial features, macrostomia, macroglossia, and palatal abnormalities); and commonly, mild-to-severe intellectual disability with or without structural brain anomalies. Other variable findings include supernumerary nipples, diastasis recti / umbilical hernia, congenital heart defects, diaphragmatic hernia, genitourinary defects, and gastrointestinal anomalies. Skeletal anomalies can include vertebral fusion, scoliosis, rib anomalies, and congenital hip dislocation. Hand anomalies can include large hands and postaxial polydactyly. Affected individuals are at increased risk for embryonal tumors including Wilms tumor, hepatoblastoma, adrenal neuroblastoma, gonadoblastoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and medulloblastoma. [from GeneReviews]

Thanatophoric dysplasia (TD) is a short-limb skeletal dysplasia that is usually lethal in the perinatal period. TD is divided into subtypes: TD type I is characterized by micromelia with bowed femurs and, uncommonly, the presence of craniosynostosis of varying severity. TD type II is characterized by micromelia with straight femurs and uniform presence of moderate-to-severe craniosynostosis with cloverleaf skull deformity. Other features common to type I and type II include: short ribs, narrow thorax, relative macrocephaly, distinctive facial features, brachydactyly, hypotonia, and redundant skin folds along the limbs. Most affected infants die of respiratory insufficiency shortly after birth. Rare long-term survivors have been reported. [from GeneReviews]

Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS) is a congenital multiple-anomaly / cognitive impairment syndrome caused by an abnormality in cholesterol metabolism resulting from deficiency of the enzyme 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC) reductase. It is characterized by prenatal and postnatal growth restriction, microcephaly, moderate-to-severe intellectual disability, and multiple major and minor malformations. The malformations include distinctive facial features, cleft palate, cardiac defects, underdeveloped external genitalia in males, postaxial polydactyly, and 2-3 syndactyly of the toes. The clinical spectrum is wide; individuals with normal development and only minor malformations have been described. [from GeneReviews]

The phenotypic spectrum of untreated glutaric acidemia type 1 (GA-1) ranges from the more common form (infantile-onset disease) to the less common form (later-onset disease – i.e., after age 6 years). Of note, the GA-1 phenotype can vary widely between untreated family members with the same genotype, primarily as a function of the age at which the first acute encephalopathic crisis occurred: three months to six years in infantile-onset GA-1 and after age six years in later-onset GA-1. Characteristically these crises result in acute bilateral striatal injury and subsequent complex movement disorders. In the era of newborn screening (NBS), the prompt initiation of treatment of asymptomatic infants detected by NBS means that most individuals who would have developed manifestations of either infantile-onset or later-onset GA-1 remain asymptomatic; however, they may be at increased risk for other manifestations (e.g., renal disease) that are becoming apparent as the understanding of the natural history of treated GA-1 continues to evolve. [from GeneReviews]

Campomelic dysplasia (CD) is a skeletal dysplasia characterized by distinctive facies, Pierre Robin sequence with cleft palate, shortening and bowing of long bones, and clubfeet. Other findings include laryngotracheomalacia with respiratory compromise and ambiguous genitalia or normal female external genitalia in most individuals with a 46,XY karyotype. Many affected infants die in the neonatal period; additional findings identified in long-term survivors include short stature, cervical spine instability with cord compression, progressive scoliosis, and hearing impairment. [from GeneReviews]

Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome is a congenital malformation syndrome characterized by pre- and postnatal growth deficiency, developmental disability of variable degree, characteristic craniofacial features ('Greek warrior helmet' appearance of the nose, high forehead, prominent glabella, hypertelorism, high-arched eyebrows, protruding eyes, epicanthal folds, short philtrum, distinct mouth with downturned corners, and micrognathia), and a seizure disorder (Battaglia et al., 2008). [from OMIM]

L1 syndrome involves a phenotypic spectrum ranging from severe to mild and includes three clinical phenotypes: X-linked hydrocephalus with stenosis of the aqueduct of Sylvius (HSAS). MASA (mental retardation [intellectual disability], aphasia [delayed speech], spastic paraplegia [shuffling gait], adducted thumbs) syndrome including X-linked complicated hereditary spastic paraplegia type 1. X-linked complicated corpus callosum agenesis. Males with HSAS are born with severe hydrocephalus, adducted thumbs, and spasticity; intellectual disability is severe. In less severely affected males, hydrocephalus may be subclinically present and documented only because of developmental delay; intellectual disability ranges from mild (IQ: 50-70) to moderate (IQ: 30-50). It is important to note that all phenotypes can be observed in affected individuals within the same family. [from GeneReviews]

Meckel syndrome, also known as Meckel-Gruber syndrome, is a severe pleiotropic autosomal recessive developmental disorder caused by dysfunction of primary cilia during early embryogenesis. There is extensive clinical variability and controversy as to the minimum diagnostic criteria. Early reports, including that of Opitz and Howe (1969) and Wright et al. (1994), stated that the classic triad of Meckel syndrome comprises (1) cystic renal disease; (2) a central nervous system malformation, most commonly occipital encephalocele; and (3) polydactyly, most often postaxial. However, based on a study of 67 patients, Salonen (1984) concluded that the minimum diagnostic criteria are (1) cystic renal disease; (2) CNS malformation, and (3) hepatic abnormalities, including portal fibrosis or ductal proliferation. In a review of Meckel syndrome, Logan et al. (2011) stated that the classic triad first described by Meckel (1822) included occipital encephalocele, cystic kidneys, and fibrotic changes to the liver. Genetic Heterogeneity of Meckel Syndrome See also MKS2 (603194), caused by mutation in the TMEM216 gene (613277) on chromosome 11q12; MKS3 (607361), caused by mutation in the TMEM67 gene (609884) on chromosome 8q; MKS4 (611134), caused by mutation in the CEP290 gene (610142) on chromosome 12q; MKS5 (611561), caused by mutation in the RPGRIP1L gene (610937) on chromosome 16q12; MKS6 (612284), caused by mutation in the CC2D2A gene (612013) on chromosome 4p15; MKS7 (267010), caused by mutation in the NPHP3 (608002) gene on chromosome 3q22; MKS8 (613885), caused by mutation in the TCTN2 gene (613846) on chromosome 12q24; MKS9 (614209), caused by mutation in the B9D1 gene (614144) on chromosome 17p11; MKS10 (614175), caused by mutation in the B9D2 gene (611951) on chromosome 19q13; MKS11 (615397), caused by mutation in the TMEM231 gene (614949) on chromosome 16q23; MKS12 (616258), caused by mutation in the KIF14 gene (611279) on chromosome 1q32; MKS13 (617562), caused by mutation in the TMEM107 gene (616183) on chromosome 17p13; and MKS14 (619879), caused by mutation in the TXNDC15 gene (617778) on chromosome 5q31. [from OMIM]

Initial symptoms of multiple sulfatase deficiency (MSD) can develop from infancy through early childhood, and presentation is widely variable. Some individuals display the multisystemic features characteristic of mucopolysaccharidosis disorders (e.g., developmental regression, organomegaly, skeletal deformities) while other individuals present primarily with neurologic regression (associated with leukodystrophy). Based on age of onset, rate of progression, and disease severity, several different clinical subtypes of MSD have been described: Neonatal MSD is the most severe with presentation in the prenatal period or at birth with rapid progression and death occurring within the first two years of life. Infantile MSD is the most common variant and may be characterized as attenuated (slower clinical course with cognitive disability and neurodegeneration identified in the 2nd year of life) or severe (loss of the majority of developmental milestones by age 5 years). Juvenile MSD is the rarest subtype with later onset of symptoms and subacute clinical presentation. Many of the features found in MSD are progressive, including neurologic deterioration, heart disease, hearing loss, and airway compromise. [from GeneReviews]

Pfeiffer syndrome is an autosomal dominant craniosynostosis syndrome with characteristic anomalies of the hands and feet. Three clinical subtypes, which have important diagnostic and prognostic implications, have been identified. Type 1, the classic syndrome, is compatible with life and consists of craniosynostosis, midface deficiency, broad thumbs, broad great toes, brachydactyly, and variable syndactyly. Type 2 consists of cloverleaf skull with Pfeiffer hands and feet, together with ankylosis of the elbows. Type 3 is similar to type 2 but without cloverleaf skull. Ocular proptosis is severe, and the anterior cranial base is markedly short. Various visceral malformations have been found in association with type 3. Early demise is characteristic of types 2 and 3 (Cohen, 1993). Cohen and Barone (1994) further tabulated the findings in the 3 types of Pfeiffer syndrome. [from OMIM]