Congenital neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis (NCL) is a devastating inherited neurodegenerative disorder of unknown metabolic basis. Eight patients with this rare disorder, all with similar clinical and neuropathological findings, have been reported, and here we describe two further patients. Previously, we showed that a mutation in the cathepsin D gene causes congenital NCL in sheep. On the basis of the neuropathological and ultrastructural similarities between the sheep and patients affected with congenital NCL, we screened the cathepsin D gene for mutations in a patient of Pakistani origin. We identified a nucleotide duplication, c.764dupA, in the cathepsin D gene in homozygous form in the patient, and in heterozygous form in his father. This duplication is likely to be disease-causing, as it creates a premature stop codon, predicting a truncation of the protein. When transiently expressed in cell cultures, the mutant protein was enzymatically inactive, but stable. In paraffin-embedded brain tissue samples of two affected siblings of the Pakistani patient, cathepsin D was absent, suggesting rapid degradation of the c.764dupA mutant cathepsin D at mRNA or protein level in vivo. Further, we were able to confirm lack of cathepsin D in the brain tissue of yet another, unrelated, patient of English origin with congenital NCL. On the basis of the present data, and the nearly identical clinical and/or pathological phenotype of the other reported cases of congenital NCL, it is reasonable to suggest that cathepsin D deficiency caused by mutations in the corresponding gene may underlie all cases of congenital NCL. The present observations also suggest that cathepsin D deficiency should be considered as a possible diagnosis in microcephalic neonates, who present with seizures at or before birth.

Objective To determine whether any increase in the incidence of breast cancer in women detected by mammography is compensated for by a drop in the incidence after age 69, years when women are no longer invited for screening.

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The results of this study demonstrate that MRS can differentiate high-grade gliomas from metastases, especially with peritumoral measurements, supporting the hypothesis that MRS can detect infiltration of tumor cells in the peritumoral edema.