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Data de publicació elecrònica: 10-05-2021 ; Rare genetic neurological disorders (RND; ORPHA:71859) are a heterogeneous group of disorders comprising >1700 distinct genetic disease entities. However, genetic discoveries have not yet translated into dramatic increases of diagnostic yield and indeed rates of molecular genetic diagnoses have been stuck at about 30–50% across NGS modalities and RND phenotypes [1, 2]. Existence of yet unknown disease genes as well as shortcomings of commonly employed NGS technologies and analysis pipelines in detecting certain variant types are typically cited to explain the low diagnosis rates. To increase the diagnostic yield in RNDs - one of the four focus disease groups in Solve-RD - we follow two major approaches, that we will here present and exemplify: (i) systematic state-of the art re-analysis of large cohorts of unsolved whole-exome/genome sequencing (WES/WGS) RND datasets; and (ii) novel-omics approaches. Based on the way Solve-RD systematically organizes researchers' expertise to channel this approach [3], the European Reference Network for Rare Neurological Diseases (ERN-RND) has established its own Data Interpretation Task Force (DITF) within SOLVE-RD, which is currently composed of clinical and genetic experts from 29 sites in 15 European countries. ; The Solve-RD project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 779257. Data were analysed using the RD‐Connect Genome‐Phenome Analysis Platform, which received funding from EU projects RD‐Connect, Solve-RD and EJP-RD (Grant Numbers FP7 305444, H2020 779257, H2020 825575), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Grant Numbers PT13/0001/0044, PT17/0009/0019; Instituto Nacional de Bioinformática, INB) and ELIXIR Implementation Studies. The study was further funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany, through the TreatHSP network (01GM1905 to RS and LS), the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (R01NS072248 to SZ and RS), the European Joint Program on Rare Diseases-EJP-RD COFUND-EJP N° 825575 through funding for the PROSPAX consortium (441409627 to MS, RS and BvW). CW was supported by the PATE program of the Medical Faculty, University of Tübingen. CEE received support from the Dutch Princess Beatrix Muscle Fund and the Dutch Spieren voor Spieren Muscle fund. Authors on this paper are members of the European Reference Network for Rare Neurological Diseases (ERN-RND, Project ID 739510)

Background: Given that new therapeutic options for spinocerebellar ataxias are on the horizon, there is a need for markers that reflect disease-related alterations, in particular, in the preataxic stage, in which clinical scales are lacking sensitivity. Objective: The objective of this study was to quantify regional brain volumes and upper cervical spinal cord areas in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 in vivo across the entire time course of the disease. Methods: We applied a brain segmentation approach that included a lobular subsegmentation of the cerebellum to magnetic resonance images of 210 ataxic and 48 preataxic spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 mutation carriers and 63 healthy controls. In addition, cervical cord cross-sectional areas were determined at 2 levels. Results: The metrics of cervical spinal cord segments C3 and C2, medulla oblongata, pons, and pallidum, and the cerebellar anterior lobe were reduced in preataxic mutation carriers compared with controls. Those of cervical spinal cord segments C2 and C3, medulla oblongata, pons, midbrain, cerebellar lobules crus II and X, cerebellar white matter, and pallidum were reduced in ataxic compared with nonataxic carriers. Of all metrics studied, pontine volume showed the steepest decline across the disease course. It covaried with ataxia severity, CAG repeat length, and age. The multivariate model derived from this analysis explained 46.33% of the variance of pontine volume. Conclusion: Regional brain and spinal cord tissue loss in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 starts before ataxia onset. Pontine volume appears to be the most promising imaging biomarker candidate for interventional trials that aim at slowing the progression of spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. © 2021 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society ; Funding agencies: This publication is an outcome of ESMI, an EU Joint Programme - Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) Project (see www.jpnd.eu). The project is supported under the aegis of JPND through the following funding organizations: Germany, Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; funding codes 01ED1602A/B); Netherlands, The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development; Portugal, Foundation for Science and Technology and Regional Fund for Science and Technology of the Azores; United Kingdom, Medical Research Council. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement 643417. At the US sites this work was in part supported y the National Ataxia Foundation and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) grant R01 NS080816. The Center for Magnetic Resonance Research is supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) grant P41 EB027061, and the Institutional Center Cores for Advanced Neuroimaging award P30 NS076408 and S10 OD017974 grant.