Our results suggest that exon 7 skipping in the BSCL2 gene due to the c.985C>T mutation is responsible for a novel early onset, fatal neurodegenerative syndrome involving cerebral cortex and basal ganglia.

Celia's encephalopathy (Progressive Encephalopathy with/without Lipodystrophy, PELD) is a childhood neurodegenerative disorder with a fatal prognosis before the age of 10, due to the variant c.985C>T in the BSCL2 gene that causes a cryptic splicing site leading to skipping of exon 7. For years, different authors have reported cases of congenital generalized lipodystrophy due to the variant c.974dupG in BSCL2 associated with neurological manifestations of variable severity, although some of them clearly superimposable to PELD.

Celia's encephalopathy (progressive encephalopathy with/without lipodystrophy, PELD) is a recessive neurodegenerative disease that is fatal in childhood. It is caused by a c.985C>T variant in the BSCL2/seipin gene that results in an aberrant seipin protein. We evaluated neurological development before and during treatment with human recombinant leptin (metreleptin) plus a dietary intervention rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in the only living patient. A 7 years and 10 months old girl affected by PELD was treated at age 3 years with metreleptin, adding at age 6 omega-3 fatty acid supplementation. Her mental age was evaluated using the Battelle Developmental Inventory Screening Test (BDI), and brain PET/MRI was performed before treatment and at age 5, 6.5, and 7.5 years. At age 7.5 years, the girl remains alive and leads a normal life for her mental age of 30 months, which increased by 4 months over the last 18 months according to BDI. PET images showed improved glucose uptake in the thalami, cerebellum, and brainstem. This patient showed a clear slowdown in neurological regression during leptin replacement plus a high PUFA diet. The aberrant BSCL2 transcript was overexpressed in SH-SY5Y cells and was treated with docosahexaenoic acid (200 µM) plus leptin (0.001 mg/ml) for 24 h. The relative expression of aberrant BSCL2 transcript was measured by qPCR. In vitro studies showed significant reduction (32%) in aberrant transcript expression. This therapeutic approach should be further studied in this devastating disease.

Phaeochromocytomas and paragangliomas are rare catecholamine-secreting tumours arising from the adrenal medulla or sympathetic paraganglia. It is known that 20–30% of all cases occur as a result of germline variants in several well known genes. The TMEM127 gene was recently identified as a new phaeochromocytoma susceptibility gene. However, until a larger sample of cases is available, the prevalence, genotype-phenotype correlation, and a clear predominant biochemical pattern of TMEM127-related PCC, remain to be defined. We present a woman with the pathogenic variant c.86delG (p.Arg29Leufs∗52) in the TMEM127 gene, which has not been previously reported, associated to a bilateral phaeochromocytoma, with an uncommon initial clinical presentation and a biochemical profile that is distinctly adrenergic. Her two young children carry the same variant and are, at present, disease-free. Physicians should be aware that phaeochromocytoma can manifest in an atypical manner, as with episodic hypotension, mainly if the symptoms have no obvious aetiology and they worsen over time. This case also supports the presence of a predominant adrenaline secreting pattern in TMEM127-positive tumours, as well as the need to consider multigene panel testing in patients with bilateral phaeochromocytomas.

MPI results (normal vs. abnormal) had strong predictive value and discrepant ECG results had no significant additive prognostic value.