The History of Gene Hunting in Hereditary Spinocerebellar Degeneration: Lessons From the Past and Future Perspectives

Hereditary spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD) encompasses an expanding list of rare diseases with a broad clinical and genetic heterogeneity, complicating their diagnosis and management in daily clinical practice. Correct diagnosis is a pillar for precision medicine, a branch of medicine that promis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in genetics 2021-03, Vol.12, p.638730-638730
Main Authors: Yahia, Ashraf, Stevanin, Giovanni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
diagnosis
gene discovery
Genetics
hereditary cerebellar ataxia
hereditary spastic paraplegia
Life Sciences
spinocerebellar ataxia
spinocerebellar degeneration
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Summary:Hereditary spinocerebellar degeneration (SCD) encompasses an expanding list of rare diseases with a broad clinical and genetic heterogeneity, complicating their diagnosis and management in daily clinical practice. Correct diagnosis is a pillar for precision medicine, a branch of medicine that promises to flourish with the progressive improvements in studying the human genome. Discovering the genes causing novel Mendelian phenotypes contributes to precision medicine by diagnosing subsets of patients with previously undiagnosed conditions, guiding the management of these patients and their families, and enabling the discovery of more causes of Mendelian diseases. This new knowledge provides insight into the biological processes involved in health and disease, including the more common complex disorders. This review discusses the evolution of the clinical and genetic approaches used to diagnose hereditary SCD and the potential of new tools for future discoveries.
ISSN:1664-8021
1664-8021
DOI:10.3389/fgene.2021.638730