Distal hereditary motor neuronopathy (dHMN or HMN) is a heterogeneous group of neuromuscular disorders caused by anterior horn cell degeneration and characterized by progressive distal motor weakness and muscular atrophy of the peripheral nervous system without sensory impairment. Distal HMN is also referred to as spinal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (spinal CMT). Distal HMN is often referred to as a 'neuronopathy' instead of a 'neuropathy' based on the hypothesis that the primary pathologic process resides in the neuron cell body and not in the axons (Irobi et al., 2006).
Historically, Harding (1993) proposed a clinical classification of distal HMN into 7 phenotypic subtypes according to age at onset, mode of inheritance, and presence of additional features; see NOMENCLATURE.
Genetic Heterogeneity of Autosomal Dominant Distal Hereditary Motor Neuronopathy
Genetically distinct forms of autosomal dominant distal hereditary motor neuropathy include HMND1; HMND2 (158590), caused by mutation in the HSPB8 gene (608014); HMND3 (608634), caused by mutation in the HSPB1 gene (602195); HMND4 (613376), caused by mutation in the HSPB3 gene (604624); HMND5 (600794), caused by mutation in the GARS gene (600287); HMND6 (615575), caused by mutation in the FBXO38 gene (608533); HMND7 (158580), caused by mutation in the SLC5A7 gene (608761); HMND8 (600175), caused by mutation in the TRPV4 gene (605427); HMND9 (617721), caused by mutation in the WARS gene (191050); HMND10 (620080), caused by mutation in the EMILIN1 gene (130660); HMND11 (620528), caused by mutation in the SPTAN1 gene (182810); HMND12 (614751), caused by mutation in the REEP1 gene (609139); HMND13 (619112), caused by mutation in the BSCL2 gene (606158); and HMND14 (607641), caused by mutation in the DCTN1 gene (601143).
See also X-linked HMN (HMNX; 300489), caused by mutation in the ATP7A gene (300011) on chromosome Xq21.
Additional disorders with overlapping features include autosomal dominant ALS4 (602433), caused by mutation in the SETX gene (608465); and CMS7A (616040), caused by mutation in the SYT2 gene (600104). [from
OMIM]