319 Olfaction in Parkin heterozygotes and compound heterozygotes: The CORE-PD study R.N. Alcalay, A. Siderowf, R. Ottman, E. Caccappolo, H. Mejia-Santana, M.-X. Tang, L. Rosado, E. Louis, D. Ruiz, C. Waters, S. Fahn, L. Cote, S. Frucht, B. Ford, M. Orbe-Reilly, B. Ross, M. Verbitsky, S. Kisselev, C. Comella, A. Colcher, D. Jennings, M. Nance, S. Bressman, W.K. Scott, C. Tanner, S. Mickel, M. Re...

1. Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is an autosomal recessive lipidosis with protean clinical manifestations, distinguished biochemically by a unique error in cellular trafficking of exogenous cholesterol that is associated with lysosomal accumulation of unesterified cholesterol. A majority of patients with this phenotype are linked genetically to chromosome 18, the locus of Niemann-Pick dise...

Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) is a fatal neurovisceral lipid storage disease of autosomal inheritance resulting from mutations in either the NPC1 (95% of families) or NPC2 gene. The encoded proteins appear to be involved in lysosomal/late endosomal transport of cholesterol, glycolipids and other molecules but their exact function is still unknown. The clinical spectrum of the disease ranges...

Niemann–Pick C (NPC) disease is rare, neurodegenerative, lysosomal cholesterol storage disorder. Diagnosis of the disease is often delayed due to disease heterogeneity, non-specific early visceral and neurological symptoms, and lack of a rapid and reliable diagnostic assay. As a result, the disease progresses and opportunities to intervene tragically are lost. Until recently, the principal diag...

Niemann-Pick type C (NPC) disease is a cholesterol lipidosis caused by mutations in NPC1 and NPC2 gene loci. Most human cases are caused by defects in NPC1, as are the spontaneously occurring NPC diseases in mice and cats. NPC1 protein possesses a sterol-sensing domain and has been localized to vesicles that are believed to facilitate the recycling of unesterified cholesterol from late endosome...

Lysosomal sequestration of endocytosed LDL-derived cholesterol, premature and abnormal enrichment of cholesterol in trans Golgi cisternae and accompanying anomalies in intracellular sterol trafficking are the hallmark phenotypic features of the Niemann-Pick C (NPC) lesion. A variable severity of these alterations has been observed, with only partial correlation between clinical and biochemical ...

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) constitutes a nodal point of a signaling network that regulates cell growth and proliferation in response to various environmental cues ranging from growth factor stimulation to nutrients to stress. Whether mTOR is also affected by cholesterol homeostasis, however, has remained unknown. We report that blockade of cholesterol trafficking through lysosome by a...

BACKGROUND Clinical observations and molecular analysis of the SMPD1 gene in Chinese patients with acid sphingomyelinase deficiency Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) are scarce. METHODS A cohort of 27 Chinese patients diagnosed with acid sphingomyelinase deficiency, within the past five years, were collected and investigated for genotype, phenotype, and their correlations. RESULTS The majority of ...

Use of fusion protein tags to investigate lysosomal proteins can be complicated by the acidic, protease-rich environment of the lysosome. Potential artifacts include degradation or release of the tag and acid quenching of fluorescence. Tagging can also affect protein folding, glycosylation and/or trafficking. To specifically investigate the use of fluorescent tags to reveal lysosomal localizati...