Repetitive DNA elements are mutational hotspots in the genome, and their instability is linked to various neurological disorders and cancers. Although it is known that expanded trinucleotide repeats can interfere with DNA replication and repair, the cellular response to these events has not been characterized. Here, we demonstrate that an expanded CAG/CTG repeat elicits a DNA damage checkpoint ...

Spinocerebellar ataxia 7 (SCA7) is caused by the expansion of an unstable CAG repeat in the first exon of the SCA7 gene. We have analyzed the SCA7 mutation in 19 families and one isolated case of various geographical origins, presenting with autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia with progressive macular dystrophy. The SCA7 CAG repeat was expanded in 77 patients and in 11 at-risk individuals, wit...

The CAG repeat expansions that occur in translated regions of specific genes can cause human genetic disorders known as polyglutamine (poly-Q)-triggered diseases. Huntington's disease and spinobulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) are examples of these diseases in which underlying mutations are localized near other trinucleotide repeats in the huntingtin (HTT) and androgen receptor (AR) genes, respect...

INTRODUCTION Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder characterised by chorea and progressive dementia. The mutation causing the disease has been identified as an unstable expansion of a trinucleotide (CAG)n. We have assessed the (CAG)n repeats in the patients and controls in our population. MATERIALS AND METHODS Polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) for the repeat reg...

Huntington disease is a neurodegenerative disorder distinguished by the triad of dominant inheritance, choreoathetosis and dementia, usually with onset in the fourth and fifth decades. It is caused by an unstable cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) trinucleotide repeat expansion in the gene IT15 in locus 4p16.3. Juvenile HD that constitutes about 3% to 10% of all patients is clinically different fro...

Expansions of trinucleotide CAG/CTG repeats in somatic tissues are thought to contribute to ongoing disease progression through an affected individual's life with Huntington's disease or myotonic dystrophy. Broad ranges of repeat instability arise between individuals with expanded repeats, suggesting the existence of modifiers of repeat instability. Mice with expanded CAG/CTG repeats show varia...

Huntington's disease is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of a (CAG)n repeat in the IT15 gene. Three per cent of cases are sporadic and in those in which family studies have been performed, the origin of the mutation was always paternal. The first sporadic case of Huntington's disease is presented in which a premutated maternal allele of 37 CAG repeats was...

BACKGROUND The modulatory domain of the human androgen receptor (AR) gene contains a polymorphic CAG repeat coding for a polyglutamine tract which is inversely correlated with transcriptional activity of the AR. Androgens acting through the AR play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris. We therefore investigated the relationship between CAG repeat polymorphism in the AR gene and a...

Nine neurodegenerative diseases, collectively referred to as polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases, are caused by expansion of a coding CAG DNA trinucleotide repeat. PolyQ diseases show a strong inverse correlation between CAG repeat length and age of disease onset (AO). Despite this, individuals with identical repeat expansion alleles can have highly variable disease onset indicating that other facto...

Aim. To analyze risk factors in the group of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and compare them literature data. Materials methods. The study included 439 PD 354 controls, comparable by gender age. For each individual, a registration card was filled containing demographic, epidemiological, clinical, neuropsychological severity studied according to MDS-UPDRS scale; stage determined Hoehn Ya...