Ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by cerebellar ataxia, scleral, mucosal, and cutaneous telangiectasias, variable T and B cell defects, and a predisposition to malignancy including childhood onset lymphoma. Chromosomal breakage is a feature. AT cells are abnormally sensitive to killing by ionizing radiation (IR), and abnormally resistant to inhibition of DNA synthesis by ionizing radiation. The latter trait had been used to identify distinct complementation groups for AT versus Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome (PMID: 3248383). The ATM protein is a member of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase family of proteins that respond to DNA damage by phosphorylating key substrates involved in DNA repair and/or cell cycle control. There is abundant evidence published associating the ATM gene with ataxia telangiectasia, since the gene-disease relationship was first proposed by Savitsky K, et al., 1995 (PMID: 7792600). Multiple case level studies have been performed with AT patients that have variants in the ATM gene, including the reports of founder and recurrent pathogenic variants. Loss of function is the mechanism of disease. A significant amount of case-level data is available; the maximum points for genetic evidence has been reached (12 points). ATM protein expression is undetectable in the majority of AT patient cells as missense variants represent less than 10% of pathogenic variants detected. The established ATM homozygous null mouse models show several of the key phenotypes consistent with ataxia telangiectasia, including decreased mature T cells. This is a split curation as the autosomal recessive inherited disorder has unique clinical features and pattern of inheritance from the autosomal dominant inherited hereditary breast carcinoma which was curated separately (ClinGen: 9908). In summary, ATM is definitively associated with autosomal recessive ataxia telangiectasia. This has been repeatedly demonstrated in both the research and clinical diagnostic settings and has been upheld over time.
The GenCC data are available free of restriction under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication. The GenCC requests that you give attribution to GenCC and the contributing sources whenever possible and appropriate. The accepted Flagship manuscript is now available from Genetics in Medicine (https://www.gimjournal.org/article/S1098-3600(22)00746-8/fulltext).
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