This article aims to study the features of AMN in Chinese patients and expand the gene spectrum of Chinese X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) patients.
Considering that inflammation might be involved in pathophysiology of X-ALD, we aimed to investigate pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in plasma from three different male phenotypes (CCER, AMN, and asymptomatic individuals).
In adulthood, X-ALD most commonly manifests as a gradually progressive myelopathy (adrenomyeloneuropathy; AMN) without any curative or disease modifying treatments.
X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by progressive cerebral demyelination cerebral childhood adrenoleukodystrophy (CCALD) or spinal cord neurodegeneration (adrenomyeloneuropathy, AMN), adrenal insufficiency and accumulation of very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA) in tissues.
Clinical and sural nerve biopsy findings in two brothers and their mother affected by adrenomyeloneuropathy/adrenoleukodystrophy (AMN/ALD) illustrate the variability of histopathological changes in this disorder.
This finding and the previous findings of a 45% frequency of phenotypic color vision defects in patients with AMN may suggest that the ALD/AMN gene lies 5' to the red pigment gene and that the frequent phenotypic color vision anomalies owe their origin to deleted DNA that includes regulatory genes for color vision.
Our results demonstrate for the first time an accumulation of VLFA in an adult female patient (atypical ALD), who probably is an ALD heterozygote rather than a variant of AMN, and confirm and extend earlier findings in classical ALD and AMN, respectively.