NPC1 is enriched in unexplained early onset ataxia: a targeted high-throughput screening

Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a rare autosomal-recessive neurodegenerative disease featuring pleiotropic neurological, psychiatric and visceral manifestations. Since many of the adult manifestations can be non-specific or missed, NP-C often goes undetected in adult-onset patients. Here we hypothesized that targeted high-throughput sequencing allows identifying NP-C patients among subjects with unexplained early-onset ataxia (EOA) and, moreover, that this population is enriched for NPC1 mutations. From 204 consecutive EOA patients, all 108 subjects with an established diagnosis were removed (including 4 NPC1 patients), yielding a target cohort of 96 subjects with unexplained EOA, but without primary suspicion of NP-C. This cohort was investigated for NPC1/NPC2 mutations using a high-coverage HaloPlex gene panel including 122 ataxia genes. Among 96 samples, we identified 4 known NPC1 mutations, 3 novel NPC1 missense variants of uncertain significance (VUS) and 1 novel NPC2 missense VUS. The total mutant allele frequency (8/192 = 4.17 %) was significantly enriched compared with control population data (1.57 %; p = 0.011). Two NPC1-positive patients were identified (both with non-specific incipient clinical features), giving a NPC1 patient frequency of 2/96 = 2.1 % in unexplained EOA and of 6/204 = 2.9 % in the total EOA series. NPC1 mutations are substantially enriched in unexplained EOA, demonstrating EOA as a risk-group for NP-C disease. Targeted high-throughput sequencing allows to identify also those NP-C patients with non-specific conditions where the diagnosis has initially been missed. This method does not require having considered NP-C during differential diagnosis, but allows identification of NP-C as part of the default analysis.