@article{RappVanDijckLaugwitzetal.2021, author = {Rapp, Christina K. and Van Dijck, Ine and Laugwitz, Lucia and Boon, Mieke and Briassoulis, George and Ilia, Stavroula and Kammer, Birgit and Reu, Simone and Hornung, Stefanie and Buchert, Rebecca and Sofan, Linda and Froukh, Tawfiq and Witters, Peter and Rymen, Daisy and Haack, Tobias B. and Proesmans, Marijke and Griese, Matthias}, title = {Expanding the phenotypic spectrum of FINCA (fibrosis, neurodegeneration, and cerebral angiomatosis) syndrome beyond infancy}, series = {Clinical Genetics}, volume = {100}, journal = {Clinical Genetics}, number = {4}, doi = {10.1111/cge.14016}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-262732}, pages = {453 -- 461}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Fibrosis, neurodegeneration, and cerebral angiomatosis (FINCA, MIM\#618278) is a rare clinical condition caused by bi-allelic variants in NHL repeat containing protein 2 (NHLRC2, MIM*618277). Pulmonary disease may be the presenting sign and the few patients reported so far, all deceased in early infancy. Exome sequencing was performed on patients with childhood interstitial lung disease (chILD) and additional neurological features. The chILD-EU register database and an in-house database were searched for patients with NHLRC2 variants and clinical features overlapping FINCA syndrome. Six patients from three families were identified with bi-allelic variants in NHLRC2. Two of these children died before the age of two while four others survived until childhood. Interstitial lung disease was pronounced in almost all patients during infancy and stabilized over the course of the disease with neurodevelopmental delay (NDD) evolving as the key clinical finding. We expand the phenotype of FINCA syndrome to a multisystem disorder with variable severity. FINCA syndrome should also be considered in patients beyond infancy with NDD and a history of distinct interstitial lung disease. Managing patients in registers for rare diseases helps identifying new diagnostic entities and advancing care for these patients.}, language = {en} } @article{SchuchForstnerRappetal.2021, author = {Schuch, Luise A. and Forstner, Maria and Rapp, Christina K. and Li, Yang and Smith, Desiree E. C. and Mendes, Marisa I. and Delhommel, Florent and Sattler, Michael and Emiralioğlu, Nagehan and Taskiran, Ekim Z. and Orhan, Diclehan and Kiper, Nural and Rohlfs, Meino and Jeske, Tim and Hastreiter, Maximilian and Gerstlauer, Michael and Torrent-Vernetta, Alba and Moreno-Gald{\´o}, Antonio and Kammer, Birgit and Brasch, Frank and Reu-Hofer, Simone and Griese, Matthias}, title = {FARS1-related disorders caused by bi-allelic mutations in cytosolic phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase genes: Look beyond the lungs!}, series = {Clinical Genetics}, volume = {99}, journal = {Clinical Genetics}, number = {6}, doi = {10.1111/cge.13943}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-238827}, pages = {789 -- 801}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) catalyze the first step of protein biosynthesis (canonical function) and have additional (non-canonical) functions outside of translation. Bi-allelic pathogenic variants in genes encoding ARSs are associated with various recessive mitochondrial and multisystem disorders. We describe here a multisystem clinical phenotype based on bi-allelic mutations in the two genes (FARSA, FARSB) encoding distinct subunits for tetrameric cytosolic phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (FARS1). Interstitial lung disease with cholesterol pneumonitis on histology emerged as an early characteristic feature and significantly determined disease burden. Additional clinical characteristics of the patients included neurological findings, liver dysfunction, and connective tissue, muscular and vascular abnormalities. Structural modeling of newly identified missense mutations in the alpha subunit of FARS1, FARSA, showed exclusive mapping to the enzyme's conserved catalytic domain. Patient-derived mutant cells displayed compromised aminoacylation activity in two cases, while remaining unaffected in another. Collectively, these findings expand current knowledge about the human ARS disease spectrum and support a loss of canonical and non-canonical function in FARS1-associated recessive disease.}, language = {en} }