Molecular basis of common hereditary motor and sensory neuropathies in humans and in mouse models

The Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathies (HMSNs) are well known to be clinically, morphologically, and genetically heterogeneous. Yet, recent advances in the cellular and molecular biology of the peripheral nervous system coupled with remarkable progress in human and mouse genetics have provided a framework that has profoundly changed our understanding of the pathogenesis of these diseases. It now appears that most of the HMSNs are related to mutations affecting genes encoding Schwann cell proteins, specifically the Peripheral Myelin Protein PMP22, Myelin Protein Zero, and one of the gap junction proteins, connexin-32. Accordingly, these findings are discussed in the context of the clinical and pathologic features of the human HMSNs, but are interpreted in the context of basic research findings on the cellular and molecular biology of the peripheral nervous system derived from in vivo and in vitro studies in spontaneously-occurring and genetically engineered animal models for the HMSNs.