Ataxia-telangiectasia is a hereditary multisystemic disease resulting from mutations of ataxia telangiectasia, mutated (ATM) and is characterized by neurodegeneration, cancer, immune defects, and hypersensitivity to ionizing radiation. The molecular details of ATM function in the nervous system are unclear, although the neurological lesion in ataxia-telangiectasia becomes apparent early in life...

Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is a rare autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder. It is characterized by early-onset, progressive cerebellar ataxia, oculomotor apraxia, choreoathetosis, conjunctival telangiectasias, immunodeficiency, and an increased risk of malignancy. Although A-T is known to be the most common cause of progressive cerebellar ataxia in childhood, there have been no confir...

ATM, the gene product mutated in the cancer susceptibility syndrome ataxia-telangiectasia, is related to proteins involved in DNA repair and cell-cycle control, perhaps explaining how ATM prevents carcinogenesis.

Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is a rare genetic disorder caused by loss of function of the ataxia-telangiectasia-mutated kinase and is characterized by a predisposition to cancer, pulmonary disease, immune deficiency and progressive degeneration of the cerebellum. As animal models do not faithfully recapitulate the neurological aspects, it remains unclear whether cerebellar degeneration is a neur...

Mre11/Rad50/Nbs1 complex (MRN) is essential to suppress the generation of double-strand breaks (DSBs) during DNA replication. MRN also plays a role in the response to DSBs created by DNA damage. Hypomorphic mutations in Mre11 (which causes an ataxia-telangiectasia-like disease [ATLD]) and mutations in the ataxia-telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) gene lead to defects in handling damaged DNA and to si...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the production of antibodies to polysaccharide antigens in patients with ataxia-telangiectasia. PATIENTS AND METHODS We used the ELISA technique to measure the levels of IgG antibodies to serotypes 1, 3, 5, 6B, 9V and 14 of Streptococcus pneumoniae in 14 patients with ataxia-telangiectasia before and after immunization with 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine. Adequate respo...

Parts of the present thesis are submitted for publication: " Insights into DNA double-strand break repair and ataxia-telangiectasia like disease from the structure of an Mre11-Nbs1 complex " , manuscript in preparation.

Maintenance of genome stability in health and disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Ataxia-telangiectasia and the ATM protein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 ATM and maintenance of genome stabili...

The authors report four adult-onset ataxia telangiectasia (AT) patients belonging to two families lacking pronounced cerebellar ataxia but displaying distal spinal muscular atrophy. AT was proven by genetic studies showing ATM mutations and a reduced level of ATM. ATM activity, as measured by phosphorylation of p53, was close to normal, indicating that the p53 response is not the only factor in...