Neuroacanthocytosis
Neuroacanthocytosis is a label applied to several genetic neurological conditions in which the blood contains misshapen, spiculated red blood cells called acanthocytes. The 'core' neuroacanthocytosis syndromes, in which acanthocytes are a typical feature, are chorea acanthocytosis and McLeod syndrome. Acanthocytes are seen less frequently in other conditions including Huntington's disease-like syndrome 2 (HDL2) and pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN). The neuroacanthocytosis syndromes are caused by a range of genetic mutations and produce a variety of clinical features but primarily produce neurodegeneration of the brain, specifically the basal ganglia. The diseases are hereditary but rare. Acanthocytes The hallmark of the neuroacanthocytosis syndromes is the presence of acanthocytes in peripheral blood. ''Acanthocytosis'' originated from the Greek word ''acantha'', meaning thorn. Acanthocytes are spiculated red blood cells and can be caused by alte ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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McLeod Syndrome
McLeod syndrome ( ) is an X-linked recessive genetic disorder that may affect the blood, brain, peripheral nerves, muscle, and heart. It is caused by a variety of recessively inherited mutations in the XK gene on the X chromosome. The gene is responsible for producing the Kx protein, a secondary supportive protein for the Kell antigen on the red blood cell surface. Presentation Patients usually begin to notice symptoms in their 30s and the course is usually slowly progressive. Common features include peripheral neuropathy, cardiomyopathy, and hemolytic anemia. Other features include limb chorea, facial tics, other oral movements (lip and tongue biting), seizures, a late-onset dementia, and behavioral changes. Genetics The McLeod phenotype is a recessive mutation of the Kell blood group system. The McLeod gene encodes the XK protein, which is located on the X chromosome, and has the structural characteristics of a membrane transport protein but an unknown function. Absence o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Acanthocyte
Acanthocyte (from the Greek word ἄκανθα ''acantha'', meaning 'thorn'), in biology and medicine, refers to an abnormal form of red blood cell that has a spiked cell membrane, due to thorny projections. A similar term is spur cells. Often they may be confused with echinocytes or schistocytes. Acanthocytes have coarse, irregularly spaced, variably sized crenations, resembling many-pointed stars. They are seen on blood films in abetalipoproteinemia, liver disease, chorea acanthocytosis, McLeod syndrome, and several inherited neurological and other disorders such as neuroacanthocytosis, anorexia nervosa, infantile pyknocytosis, hypothyroidism, idiopathic neonatal hepatitis, alcoholism, congestive splenomegaly, Zieve syndrome, and chronic granulomatous disease. Usage Spur cells may refer synonymously to acanthocytes, or may refer in some sources to a specific subset of 'extreme acanthocytes' that have undergone splenic modification whereby additional cell membrane loss ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chorea
Chorea, or (rarely) choreia, () is an abnormal involuntary movement disorder, characterized by quick movements of the hands or feet. It is one of a group of neurological disorders called dyskinesias. The term ''chorea'' is derived , as the movements of the body is comparable to dancing. The term hemichorea refers to chorea of one side of the body, such as chorea of one arm but not both (analogous to hemiballismus). Presentation Chorea is characterized by brief, semi-directed, irregular movements that are not repetitive or rhythmic, but appear to flow from one muscle to the next. These 'dance-like' movements of chorea often occur with athetosis, which adds twisting and writhing movements. Walking may become difficult and include odd postures and leg movements. Unlike ataxia, which affects the quality of voluntary movements, or Parkinsonism, which is a hindrance of voluntary movements, the movements of chorea and ballism occur on their own, without conscious effort. Thus, chorea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chorea Acanthocytosis
Chorea-acanthocytosis (ChAc, also called choreoacanthocytosis) is a rare hereditary disease --evidence suggests that only 500 to 1,000 people worldwide have the condition. It is caused by a mutation in a gene that directs structural proteins in red blood cells. It belongs to a group of four diseases characterized under the name neuroacanthocytosis. When a patient's blood is viewed under a microscope, some of the red blood cells appear thorny. These thorny cells are called acanthocytes. Other effects of the disease may include involuntary muscle movements, impaired balance and coordination,behavioral changes, memory problems,difficulty swallowing, speech difficulties, seizures, muscle weakness, personality changes,and neuronal degradation similar to Huntington's disease. The average age of onset of symptoms is 35 years. The disease is incurable and inevitably leads to premature death. Chorea-acanthocytosis is a very complex autosomal recessive adult-onset neurodegenerative disorde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Huntington's Disease-like Syndrome
Huntington's disease-like syndromes (HD-like syndromes, or HDL syndromes) are a family of inherited neurodegenerative diseases that closely resemble Huntington's disease (HD) in that they typically produce a combination of chorea, cognitive decline or dementia and behavioural or psychiatric problems. Types HDL1 HDL1 is an unusual, autosomal dominant familial prion disease. Only described in one family, it is caused by an eight- octapeptide repeat insertion in the ''PRNP'' gene. More broadly, inherited prion diseases in general can mimic HD. HDL2 HDL2 is the most common HD-like syndrome and is caused by CTG/ CAG triplet expansions in the ''JPH3'' gene encoding junctophilin-3. It is almost exclusively restricted to populations of African descent and is actually more common than Huntington's disease in Black South Africans. Full penetrance occurs in people with 40 repeats or more. A South African study in 2024 examined eight individuals with HDL2 and found their repeat numbers v ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chorea Acanthocytosis
Chorea-acanthocytosis (ChAc, also called choreoacanthocytosis) is a rare hereditary disease --evidence suggests that only 500 to 1,000 people worldwide have the condition. It is caused by a mutation in a gene that directs structural proteins in red blood cells. It belongs to a group of four diseases characterized under the name neuroacanthocytosis. When a patient's blood is viewed under a microscope, some of the red blood cells appear thorny. These thorny cells are called acanthocytes. Other effects of the disease may include involuntary muscle movements, impaired balance and coordination,behavioral changes, memory problems,difficulty swallowing, speech difficulties, seizures, muscle weakness, personality changes,and neuronal degradation similar to Huntington's disease. The average age of onset of symptoms is 35 years. The disease is incurable and inevitably leads to premature death. Chorea-acanthocytosis is a very complex autosomal recessive adult-onset neurodegenerative disorde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blood Type
A blood type (also known as a blood group) is based on the presence and absence of antibody, antibodies and Heredity, inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates, glycoproteins, or glycolipids, depending on the blood group system. Some of these antigens are also present on the surface of other types of Cell (biology)#Eukaryotic cells, cells of various Tissue (biology), tissues. Several of these red blood cell surface antigens can stem from one allele (or an alternative version of a gene) and collectively form a blood group system. Blood types are inherited and represent contributions from both parents of an individual. As of October 2024, a total of 47 human blood group systems are recognized by the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT). The two most important blood group systems are ABO blood group system, ABO and Rh blood group system, Rh; they determine someone's blood type (A, B, AB, and O ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Antigen
In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule, moiety, foreign particulate matter, or an allergen, such as pollen, that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. Antigens can be proteins, peptides (amino acid chains), polysaccharides (chains of simple sugars), lipids, or nucleic acids. Antigens exist on normal cells, cancer cells, parasites, viruses, fungus, fungi, and bacteria. Antigens are recognized by antigen receptors, including antibodies and T-cell receptors. Diverse antigen receptors are made by cells of the immune system so that each cell has a specificity for a single antigen. Upon exposure to an antigen, only the lymphocytes that recognize that antigen are activated and expanded, a process known as clonal selection. In most cases, antibodies are ''antigen-specific'', meaning that an antibody can only react to and bind one specific antigen; in some instances, however, antibodies may cr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kell Antigen System
The Kell antigen system (also known as the Kell–Cellano system) is a human blood group system, that is, a group of antigens on the human red blood cell surface which are important determinants of blood type and are targets for autoimmune or alloimmune diseases which destroy red blood cells. The Kell antigens are K, k, Kpa, Kpb, Jsa and Jsb. The Kell antigens are peptides found within the Kell protein, a 93-kilodalton transmembrane zinc-dependent endopeptidase which is responsible for cleaving endothelin-3. Protein The ''KEL'' gene encodes a type II transmembrane glycoprotein that is the highly polymorphic Kell blood group antigen. The Kell glycoprotein links via a single disulfide bond to the XK membrane protein that carries the Kx antigen. The encoded protein contains sequence and structural similarity to members of the neprilysin (M13) family of zinc endopeptidases. There are several alleles of the gene which creates Kell protein. Two such alleles, ''K1'' (Kell) and ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Erythrocyte
Red blood cells (RBCs), referred to as erythrocytes (, with -''cyte'' translated as 'cell' in modern usage) in academia and medical publishing, also known as red cells, erythroid cells, and rarely haematids, are the most common type of blood cell and the vertebrate's principal means of delivering oxygen () to the body tissues—via blood flow through the circulatory system. Erythrocytes take up oxygen in the lungs, or in fish the gills, and release it into tissues while squeezing through the body's capillaries. The cytoplasm of a red blood cell is rich in hemoglobin (Hb), an iron-containing biomolecule that can bind oxygen and is responsible for the red color of the cells and the blood. Each human red blood cell contains approximately 270 million hemoglobin molecules. The cell membrane is composed of proteins and lipids, and this structure provides properties essential for physiological cell function such as deformability and stability of the blood cell while traversing ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |