Homozygous deletion of an EGR2 enhancer in congenital amyelinating neuropathy

  • Ann Neurol. 2012 May;71(5):719-23. doi: 10.1002/ana.23527.
Benoît Funalot  1 ,  Piotr Topilko ,  Maria Antonia Ramos Arroyo ,  Abdelaziz Sefiani ,  E Tessa Hedley-Whyte ,  Maria E Yoldi ,  Laurence Richard ,  Estelle Touraille ,  Mathieu Laurichesse ,  Emmanuel Khalifa ,  Jasmine Chauzeix ,  Adama Ouedraogo ,  Didier Cros ,  Corinne Magdelaine ,  Franck G Sturtz ,  J Andoni Urtizberea ,  Patrick Charnay ,  Federico Garcia Bragado ,  Jean-Michel Vallat
Affiliations
  • 1. National Referral Center for Rare Peripheral Neuropathies, University Hospital, Limoges, France. [email protected]
PMID: 22522483 DOI: 10.1002/ana.23527
Abstract

The transcription factor EGR2 is expressed in Schwann cells, where it controls peripheral nerve myelination. Mutations of EGR2 have been found in patients with congenital hypomyelinating neuropathy or Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1D. In a patient with congenital amyelinating neuropathy, we observed pathological abnormalities recapitulating the peripheral nervous system phenotype of homozygous Egr2-null mice. This patient, born from consanguineous parents, showed no EGR2 immunoreactivity in Schwann cells and harbored a homozygous 10.7-kilobase-long deletion encompassing a myelin-specific enhancer of EGR2. This regulatory mutation is the first genetic abnormality associated with congenital amyelinating neuropathy in humans.