Abstract
Ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 4 (AOA4) is a rare autosomal recessive, PNKP-related disorder delineated in 2015 in Portugal. We diagnosed AOA4 by next generation
sequencing (NGS) followed by Sanger's sequencing in three boys from two unrelated
Belarusian families. In both families, one of the heterozygous PNKP mutations was c.1123G>T, common in Portuguese patients; biallelic mutations, c.1270_1283dup14
and c.1029+2T>C, respectively, were novel. These are the first reported AOA4 Slavic
cases and the first with a “Portuguese” PNKP mutation outside Portugal. Distinction in two brothers was microcephaly but their
disease was not severe in contrast to PNKP-related “microcephaly, seizures, and developmental delay” and reported cases with
features of both phenotypes.
Keywords
ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 4 - microcephaly - mutation frequency