Alkaptonuria is caused by deficiency of homogentisate 1,2-dioxygenase, an enzyme that converts homogentisic acid (HGA) to maleylacetoacetic acid in the tyrosine degradation pathway. The three major features of alkaptonuria are dark urine or urine that turns dark on standing, ochronosis (bluish-black pigmentation in connective tissue), and arthritis of the spine and larger joints. Ochronosis generally occurs after age 30 years; arthritis often begins in the third decade. Other manifestations can include pigment in the sclera, ear cartilage, and skin of the hands; aortic or mitral valve calcification or regurgitation and occasionally aortic dilatation; renal stones; prostate stones; and hypothyroidism.

Hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type V (HSAN5) is a condition that primarily affects the sensory nerve cells (sensory neurons), which transmit information about sensations such as pain, temperature, and touch. These sensations are impaired in people with HSAN5.\n\nThe signs and symptoms of HSAN5 appear early, usually at birth or during infancy. People with HSAN5 lose the ability to feel pain, heat, and cold. Deep pain perception, the feeling of pain from injuries to bones, ligaments, or muscles, is especially affected in people with HSAN5. Because of the inability to feel deep pain, affected individuals suffer repeated severe injuries such as bone fractures and joint injuries that go unnoticed. Repeated trauma can lead to a condition called Charcot joints, in which the bones and tissue surrounding joints are destroyed.

Hypophosphatasia is characterized by defective mineralization of growing or remodeling bone, with or without root-intact tooth loss, in the presence of low activity of serum and bone alkaline phosphatase. Clinical features range from stillbirth without mineralized bone at the severe end to pathologic fractures of the lower extremities in later adulthood at the mild end. While the disease spectrum is a continuum, seven clinical forms of hypophosphatasia are usually recognized based on age at diagnosis and severity of features: Perinatal (severe): Characterized by pulmonary insufficiency and hypercalcemia Perinatal (benign): Prenatal skeletal manifestations that slowly resolve into one of the milder forms Infantile: Onset between birth and age six months of clinical features of rickets without elevated serum alkaline phosphatase activity Severe childhood (juvenile): Variable presenting features progressing to rickets Mild childhood: Low bone mineral density for age, increased risk of fracture, and premature loss of primary teeth with intact roots Adult: Characterized by stress fractures and pseudofractures of the lower extremities in middle age, sometimes associated with early loss of adult dentition Odontohypophosphatasia: Characterized by premature exfoliation of primary teeth and/or severe dental caries without skeletal manifestations

Progressive pseudorheumatoid dysplasia (PPD) is a skeletal dysplasia characterized by predominant involvement of articular cartilage with progressive joint stiffness and enlargement in the absence of inflammation. Onset – typically between ages three and six years – begins with the involvement of the interphalangeal joints. Over time, involvement of large joints and the spine causes significant joint contractures, gait disturbance, and scoliosis and/or kyphosis, resulting in abnormal posture and significant morbidity. Despite the considerable arthropathy, pain is not a major presenting feature of this condition. Initially height is normal; however, short stature (<3rd centile) becomes evident in adolescence as the skeletal changes progress.

Winchester syndrome (WNCHRS) presents with severe osteolysis in the hands and feet and generalized osteoporosis and bone thinning, similar to multicentric osteolysis, nodulosis, and arthropathy (MONA; 259600), but subcutaneous nodules are characteristically absent. Various additional features including coarse face, corneal opacities, gum hypertrophy, and EKG changes have been reported (summary by Zankl et al., 2007). Reviews Winter (1989) provided a review of Winchester syndrome. De Vos et al. (2019) reviewed Winchester syndrome, Frank-Ter Haar syndrome (249420), and MONA, tabulating the clinical features of 63 reported patients and noting significant overlap, including craniofacial malformations, reduced bone density, skeletal and cardiac anomalies, and dermal fibrosis. Because the protein products of all 3 causative genes (MMP14; SH3PXD2B, 613293; MMP2, 120360) are involved in collagen remodeling, the authors suggested grouping them together in a revised nosologic classification, designated 'defective collagen-remodeling spectrum (DECORS).'

Chondrocalcinosis, or cartilage calcification, is a common condition that usually results from deposition of crystals of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD) in articular hyaline and fibro-cartilage. CPPD crystal deposition may be asymptomatic or associated with characteristic acute attacks ('pseudogout') or chronic arthritis. It can be detected radiographically. Chondrocalcinosis occurs in 3 forms: a primary hereditary form (e.g., CCAL2); a form associated with metabolic disorders (e.g., hyperparathyroidism, hemochromatosis, and hypomagnesemia); and a sporadic form, which may in some cases represent the hereditary form (summary by Hughes et al., 1995 and Richette et al., 2009). Genetic Heterogeneity of Chondrocalcinosis Another form of chondrocalcinosis (CCAL1; 600668) has been mapped to chromosome 8q.

Chondrodysplasia with congenital joint dislocations, CHST3-related (CDCJD-CHST3) is characterized by short stature of prenatal onset, joint dislocations (knees, hips, radial heads), clubfeet, and limitation of range of motion that can involve all large joints. Kyphosis and occasionally scoliosis with slight shortening of the trunk develop in childhood. Minor heart valve dysplasia has been described in several persons. Intellect and vision are normal.

The autosomal dominant TRPV4 disorders (previously considered to be clinically distinct phenotypes before their molecular basis was discovered) are now grouped into neuromuscular disorders and skeletal dysplasias; however, the overlap within each group is considerable. Affected individuals typically have either neuromuscular or skeletal manifestations alone, and in only rare instances an overlap syndrome has been reported. The three autosomal dominant neuromuscular disorders (mildest to most severe) are: Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2C. Scapuloperoneal spinal muscular atrophy. Congenital distal spinal muscular atrophy. The autosomal dominant neuromuscular disorders are characterized by a congenital-onset, static, or later-onset progressive peripheral neuropathy with variable combinations of laryngeal dysfunction (i.e., vocal fold paresis), respiratory dysfunction, and joint contractures. The six autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasias (mildest to most severe) are: Familial digital arthropathy-brachydactyly. Autosomal dominant brachyolmia. Spondylometaphyseal dysplasia, Kozlowski type. Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, Maroteaux type. Parastremmatic dysplasia. Metatropic dysplasia. The skeletal dysplasia is characterized by brachydactyly (in all 6); the five that are more severe have short stature that varies from mild to severe with progressive spinal deformity and involvement of the long bones and pelvis. In the mildest of the autosomal dominant TRPV4 disorders life span is normal; in the most severe it is shortened. Bilateral progressive sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) can occur with both autosomal dominant neuromuscular disorders and skeletal dysplasias.

Stickler syndrome is a connective tissue disorder that can include ocular findings of myopia, cataract, and retinal detachment; hearing loss that is both conductive and sensorineural; midfacial underdevelopment and cleft palate (either alone or as part of the Pierre Robin sequence); and early-onset degenerative joint disease. Variable phenotypic expression of Stickler syndrome occurs both within and among families; interfamilial variability is in part explained by locus and allelic heterogeneity.

The camptodactyly-arthropathy-coxa vara-pericarditis syndrome (CACP) is an autosomal recessive condition characterized by the association of congenital or early-onset camptodactyly and noninflammatory arthropathy with synovial hyperplasia. Progressive coxa vara deformity and/or noninflammatory pericardial or pleural effusions are found in some patients (summary by Faivre et al., 2000).

Stickler syndrome is a connective tissue disorder that can include ocular findings of myopia, cataract, and retinal detachment; hearing loss that is both conductive and sensorineural; midfacial underdevelopment and cleft palate (either alone or as part of the Pierre Robin sequence); and early-onset degenerative joint disease. Variable phenotypic expression of Stickler syndrome occurs both within and among families; interfamilial variability is in part explained by locus and allelic heterogeneity.

Most characteristically, Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS) manifests as an early-onset encephalopathy that usually, but not always, results in severe intellectual and physical disability. A subgroup of infants with AGS present at birth with abnormal neurologic findings, hepatosplenomegaly, elevated liver enzymes, and thrombocytopenia, a picture highly suggestive of congenital infection. Otherwise, most affected infants present at variable times after the first few weeks of life, frequently after a period of apparently normal development. Typically, they demonstrate the subacute onset of a severe encephalopathy characterized by extreme irritability, intermittent sterile pyrexias, loss of skills, and slowing of head growth. Over time, as many as 40% develop chilblain skin lesions on the fingers, toes, and ears. It is becoming apparent that atypical, sometimes milder, cases of AGS exist, and thus the true extent of the phenotype associated with pathogenic variants in the AGS-related genes is not yet known.

HFE-related hemochromatosis (HFE HC) is characterized by increased intestinal iron absorption and increased recycling of iron derived from senescent red blood cells. The phenotypic spectrum of HFE HC includes clinical HFE HC (increased serum ferritin and transferrin saturation and end-organ damage secondary to iron overload), biochemical HFE HC (increased serum ferritin and transferrin saturation without end-organ damage), and non-penetrant HFE HC (neither clinical manifestations of HFE HC nor iron overload are present, although elevated transferrin saturation may occur). Clinical HFE HC is characterized by excessive iron in the liver, pancreas, heart, skin, joints, and anterior pituitary gland. In untreated individuals, early manifestations include weakness, chronic fatigue, abdominal pain, weight loss, arthralgias, and diabetes mellitus. Individuals with HFE HC have an increased risk of cirrhosis when their serum ferritin is higher than 1,000 µg/L. Other findings of severe iron overload include hypogonadism, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, and progressive increase in skin pigmentation. Clinical HFE HC is more common in males than females.

Autosomal recessive primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy-1 (PHOAR1) is a rare familial disorder characterized by digital clubbing, osteoarthropathy, and acroosteolysis, with variable features of pachydermia, delayed closure of the fontanels, and congenital heart disease (summary by Uppal et al., 2008; Radhakrishnan et al., 2020). Secondary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, or pulmonary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, is a different disorder characterized by digital clubbing secondary to acquired diseases, most commonly intrathoracic neoplasm (Uppal et al., 2008). Touraine et al. (1935) recognized pachydermoperiostosis as a familial disorder with 3 clinical presentations or forms: a complete form characterized by periostosis and pachydermia; an incomplete form with bone changes but without pachydermia; and a 'forme fruste' with pachydermia and minimal skeletal changes. Genetic Heterogeneity Autosomal recessive primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy-2-enteropathy syndrome (PHOAR2E; 614441) is caused by mutation in the SLCO2A1 gene (601460) on chromosome 3q22. Families with an autosomal dominant form of primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy, in which patients may also experience gastrointestinal symptoms, have been reported (PHOAD; 167100).

Hyper-IgE syndrome-4B with recurrent infections (HIES4B) is an autosomal recessive immunologic disorder characterized by early childhood onset of recurrent infections and skeletal abnormalities, including craniosynostosis and scoliosis. Patients are mainly susceptible to bacterial infections that affect the respiratory tract, skin, and eye. Immunologic workup shows increased serum IgE, intermittent eosinophilia, and impaired IL6 (147620) and IL27 (608273) downstream signaling that affects the development and function of certain B- and T-cell populations, as well as the acute-phase response; IL11 (147681) signaling in fibroblasts is also affected (summary by Shahin et al., 2019). For a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of hyper-IgE syndrome, see HIES1 (147060).

Autoinflammatory-pancytopenia syndrome (AIPCS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by severe anemia and thrombocytopenia apparent from early infancy, hepatosplenomegaly, and recurrent fevers associated with a hyperinflammatory state. Additional systemic features may include chronic diarrhea, proteinuria with renal disease, liver fibrosis with elevated liver enzymes, deforming arthropathy, and vasculitic skin lesions. Some patients may have motor delay or learning difficulties associated with subcortical white matter lesions on brain imaging. Laboratory studies show increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines and increased expression of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), consistent with a type I interferonopathy (Rodero et al., 2017). Treatment with a JAK (see 147795) inhibitor (baricitinib) may be effective (Hong et al., 2020).