Gaucher disease (GD) encompasses a continuum of clinical findings from a perinatal lethal disorder to an asymptomatic type. The identification of three major clinical types (1, 2, and 3) and two other subtypes (perinatal-lethal and cardiovascular) is useful in determining prognosis and management. GD type 1 is characterized by the presence of clinical or radiographic evidence of bone disease (osteopenia, focal lytic or sclerotic lesions, and osteonecrosis), hepatosplenomegaly, anemia and thrombocytopenia, lung disease, and the absence of primary central nervous system disease. GD types 2 and 3 are characterized by the presence of primary neurologic disease; in the past, they were distinguished by age of onset and rate of disease progression, but these distinctions are not absolute. Disease with onset before age two years, limited psychomotor development, and a rapidly progressive course with death by age two to four years is classified as GD type 2. Individuals with GD type 3 may have onset before age two years, but often have a more slowly progressive course, with survival into the third or fourth decade. The perinatal-lethal form is associated with ichthyosiform or collodion skin abnormalities or with nonimmune hydrops fetalis. The cardiovascular form is characterized by calcification of the aortic and mitral valves, mild splenomegaly, corneal opacities, and supranuclear ophthalmoplegia. Cardiopulmonary complications have been described with all the clinical subtypes, although varying in frequency and severity.

Homozygous loss-of-function mutations in the HOXA1 gene result in disorders with variable phenotypic expressivity that span a spectrum. Two related, but somewhat distinctive, phenotypes have been described in different populations: the Athabaskan brainstem dysgenesis syndrome (ABDS) in Native Americans, and Bosley-Salih-Alorainy syndrome (BSAS) in individuals from the Middle East, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Features common to both disorders include Duane retraction syndrome with variable gaze palsies, sensorineural deafness associated with inner ear abnormalities, and delayed motor development. More variable features, observed in both disorders, include conotruncal cardiac malformations, cerebral vascular malformations, and impaired intellectual development with autism. Unique to ABDS are central hypoventilation, often resulting in early death, facial weakness, and more severe cognitive deficits. These features are thought to be due to a more severe malformation of the hindbrain in ABDS compared to BSAS (summary by Tischfield et al., 2005).

HGPPS is an autosomal recessive neurologic disorder characterized by eye movement abnormalities apparent from birth and childhood-onset progressive scoliosis. These features are associated with a developmental malformation of the brainstem including hypoplasia of the pons and cerebellar peduncles and defective decussation of certain neuronal systems. Cognitive function is normal (summary by Bosley et al., 2005). Genetic Heterogeneity of Familial Horizontal Gaze Palsy With Progressive Scoliosis See also HGPPS2 (617542), caused by mutation in the DCC gene (120470) on chromosome 18q21.