Primary torsion dystonia (PTD) has a broad clinical spectrum, with earlier onset of symptoms associated with more generalized muscle involvement. The causes for most dystonia are unknown although several monogenic subtypes have been identified. One important genetic cause of PTD is DYT1; a three base pair deletion in this gene is a major cause for early-onset dystonia. Its identification has al...

OBJECTIVES to provide a revised version of earlier guidelines published in 2006. BACKGROUND primary dystonias are chronic and often disabling conditions with a widespread spectrum mainly in young people. DIAGNOSIS primary dystonias are classified as pure dystonia, dystonia plus or paroxysmal dystonia syndromes. Assessment should be performed using a validated rating scale for dystonia. Gene...

TorsinA is an AAA+ ATPase located within the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum and nuclear envelope, with a mutant form causing early onset torsion dystonia (DYT1). Here we report a new function for torsinA in endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD). Retro-translocation and proteosomal degradation of a mutant cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTRΔF508) was inhib...

DYT1 is a debilitating movement disorder caused by loss-of-function mutations in torsinA. How these mutations cause dystonia remains unknown. Mouse models which have embryonically targeted torsinA have failed to recapitulate the dystonia seen in patients, possibly due to differential developmental compensation between rodents and humans. To address this issue, torsinA was acutely knocked down i...

DYT1 dystonia is an early onset central nervous system-based movement disorder characterized by uncontrolled sustained muscle contractions that can lead to debilitating abnormal postures. Though a genetic mutation in the gene TOR1A is responsible for most DYT1 cases, the low penetrance of the disease implicates additional genetic and environmental modifiers. Current therapeutic options for DYT1...

Abnormalities in motor sequence learning have been observed in non-manifesting carriers of the DYT1 dystonia mutation. Indeed, motor sequence learning deficits in these subjects have been associated with increased cerebellar activation during task performance. In the current study, we determined whether similar changes are also present in clinically manifesting DYT1 carriers as well as in carri...

DYT1 early-onset primary dystonia (DYT1) is a well-described dystonia caused by an in-frame GAG nucleotide deletion in the TOR1A gene, c.907_909delGAG. The only phenotype linked to TOR1A is dystonia. Homozygous GAG deletions or compound heterozygosity for mutations in TOR1A have never been reported in humans. Arthrogryposis, defined as multiple congenital contractures, affects 1 in 3,000–5,000 ...

Dystonia is a neurological disorder characterized by sustained or repetitive involuntary muscle contractions and abnormal postures. In the present article, we will introduce our recent electrophysiological studies in hyperkinetic transgenic mice generated as a model of DYT1 dystonia and in a human cervical dystonia patient, and discuss the pathophysiology of dystonia on the basis of these elect...

We describe the clinical features of a brother and sister with non-dopa-responsive, childhood-onset, generalized dystonia. The children were born to consanguineous parents, had no family history of neurologic disease, no evidence of structural or metabolic causes of dystonia, and negative testing for the GAG946 deletion mutation in the DYT1 gene. This report supports the existence of a generali...

Striatal dysfunction plays an important role in dystonia, but the striatal cell types that contribute to abnormal movements are poorly defined. We demonstrate that conditional deletion of the DYT1 dystonia protein torsinA in embryonic progenitors of forebrain cholinergic and GABAergic neurons causes dystonic-like twisting movements that emerge during juvenile CNS maturation. The onset of these ...