Twenty-five novel mutations including duplications in the ATP7A gene

Menkes disease (MD) and occipital horn syndrome (OHS) are allelic X-linked recessive copper deficiency disorders resulting from ATP7A gene mutations. MD is a severe condition leading to progressive neurological degeneration and death in early childhood, whereas OHS has a milder phenotype with mainly connective tissue abnormalities. Until now, molecular analyses have revealed only deletions and point mutations in both diseases. This study reports new molecular data in a series of 40 patients referred for either MD or OHS. We describe 23 point mutations (9 missense mutations, 7 splice site variants, 4 nonsense mutations, and 3 small insertions or deletions) and 7 intragenic deletions. Of these, 18 point mutations and 3 deletions are novel. Furthermore, our finding of four whole exon duplications enlarges the mutation spectrum in the ATP7A gene. ATP7A alterations were found in 85% of cases. Of these alterations, two thirds were point mutations and the remaining one third consisted of large rearrangements. We found that 66.6% of point mutations resulted in impaired ATP7A transcript splicing, a phenomenon more frequent than expected. This finding enabled us to confirm the pathogenic role of ATP7A mutations, particularly in missense and splice site variants.