Spinocerebellar variant of adrenoleukodystrophy with a novel ABCD1 gene mutation

Abstract

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) shows a wide range of phenotypic expression, and clinical presentation as adult-onset spinocerebellar ataxia has been rarely reported. Here, we report a Taiwanese family with X-ALD. The proband, a 37-year-old man presented with dysarthria, cerebellar ataxia and mild spastic paraparesis, and had atrophy of cerebellum and upper cervical cord on MRI. One of his nephews, a 9-year-old boy had a classic childhood cerebral ALD phenotype. This family harbors a novel deletion of 1 base pair in exon 8 at nucleotide position 2245 (2245delA) in the ABCD1 gene. This is the first report of the 2245delA mutation presenting with a spinocerebellar variant of X-ALD.