Recent advances in Dyggve-Melchior-Clausen syndrome

Dyggve-Melchior-Clausen (DMC) is a rare autosomal-recessive disorder characterized by the association of a progressive spondylo-epi-metaphyseal dysplasia and mental retardation ranging from mild to severe. Electron microscopy studies of both DMC chondrocytes and fibroblasts reveal an enlarged endoplasmic reticulum network and a large number of intracytoplasmic membranous vesicles, suggesting that DMC syndrome may be a storage disorder. Indeed, DMC phenotype is often compared to that of type IV mucopolysaccharidosis (Morquio disease), a lysosomal disorder due to either N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulphatase or beta-galactosidase deficiency. To date, however, the lysosomal pathway appears normal in DMC patients and biochemical analyses failed to reveal any enzymatic deficiency or accumulated substrate. Linkage studies using homozygosity mapping have led to the localization of the disease-causing gene on chromosome 18q21.1. The gene was recently identified as a novel transcript (Dym) encoding a 669-amino acid product (Dymeclin) with no known domains or function. Sixteen different Dym mutations have now been described in 21 unrelated families with at least five founder effects in Morocco, Lebanon, and Guam Island. Smith-MacCort syndrome (SMC), a rare variant of DMC syndrome without mental retardation, was shown to be allelic of DMC syndrome and to result from mutations in Dym that would be less deleterious to the brain. The present review focuses on clinical, radiological, and cellular features and evolution of DMC/SMC syndromes and discusses them with regard to identified Dym mutations and possible roles of the Dym gene product.