Chediak-Higashi Syndrome: a Clinical and Molecular View of a Rare Lysosomal Storage Disorder

Authors: Ward D.McVey; Shiflett S.L.; Kaplan J.

Source: Current Molecular Medicine, Volume 2, Number 5, August 2002 , pp. 469-477(9)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

Chediak Higashi syndrome (CHS) is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder that affects multiple systems of the body. Patients with CHS exhibit hypopigmentation of the skin, eyes and hair, prolonged bleeding times, easy bruisability, recurrent infections, abnormal NK cell function and peripheral neuropathy. Morbidity results from patients succumbing to frequent bacterial infections or to an “accelerated phase” lymphoproliferation into the major organs of the body. Current treatment for the disorder is bone marrow transplant, which alleviates the immune problems and the accelerated phase, but does not inhibit the development of neurologic disorders that grow increasingly worse with age. There are several animal models of CHS, the beige mouse being the most characterized. Positional cloning and YAC complementation resulted in the identification of the Beige and CHS1 / LYST genes. These genes encode a cytosolic protein of 430,000 Da. Sequence analysis identified three conserved regions in the protein: a HEAT repeat motif at the amino-terminus that contains several helices, a BEACH domain containing the amino acid sequence WIDL, and a WD40 repeat motif, which is described as a protein-protein interaction domain. The presence of the BEACH and WD40 domains defines a family of genes that encode extremely large proteins.

Keywords: chediak-higashi syndrome; chs; lyst gene

Language: English

Document Type: Review article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1566524023362339

Publication date: 2002-08-01

• Current Molecular Medicine is an interdisciplinary journal focused on providing the readership with current and comprehensive reviews on fundamental molecular mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, the development of molecular-diagnosis and/or novel approaches to rational treatment. The reviews should be of significant interest to basic researchers and clinical investigators in molecular medicine. Periodically the journal will invite guest editors to devote an issue on a basic research area that shows promise to advance our understanding of the molecular mechanism(s) of a disease or has potential for clinical applications.

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• By this author: Ward D.McVey ;  Shiflett S.L. ;  Kaplan J.

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