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Neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease cases with leukoencephalopathy diagnosed via skin biopsy
  1. Jun Sone1,
  2. Naoyuki Kitagawa2,
  3. Eriko Sugawara3,
  4. Masaaki Iguchi4,
  5. Ryoichi Nakamura1,
  6. Haruki Koike1,
  7. Yasushi Iwasaki5,
  8. Mari Yoshida5,
  9. Tatsuya Takahashi3,
  10. Susumu Chiba4,
  11. Masahisa Katsuno1,
  12. Fumiaki Tanaka1,6,
  13. Gen Sobue1
  1. 1Department of Neurology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
  2. 2Department of Neurology, Kosei Chuo General Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
  3. 3Department of Neurology, National Hospital Organization Yokohama Medical Center, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
  4. 4Department of Neurology, Sapporo Yamano-ue Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
  5. 5Department of Neuropathology, Institute for Medical Sciences of Aging, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute, Aichi, Japan
  6. 6Department of Neurology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
  1. Correspondence to Professor Gen Sobue, Department of Neurology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65, Tsurumai-cho, Shouwa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan; sobueg{at}med.nagoya-u.ac.jp

https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2013-306084

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    Introduction

    Neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterised by eosinophilic hyaline intranuclear inclusions which are widely observed in neuronal and somatic cells.1 ,2 NIID has been considered to be a heterogeneous disease with highly variable clinical manifestations such as neuropathy, cerebellar ataxia and dementia, which may occur concomitantly in certain cases.1–5 Sporadic and familial cases have been reported, and the onset of disease varies from the infantile stages to late middle age. These factors made the antemortem diagnosis of NIID difficult. However, in 2011, we reported that skin biopsy is a useful antemortem diagnostic tool for familial neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease because it detects intranuclear inclusions in the dermal cells.3 Recently, some autopsies of NIID patients with leukoencephalopathy have been reported.4 In this study, we identified intranuclear inclusions in skin biopsy samples from three sporadic NIID patients who presented with cognitive dysfunction along with notable brain MRIs findings of leukoencephalopathy.

    Case 1

    A patient aged in the late sixties with neither significant past medical history nor family history of neurological disease was referred to our hospital with gait disturbance and dementia with symptoms including frequent disorientation over 3 years. A neurological examination revealed no ataxia, sensory disturbances or urinary incontinence. The patient's Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) Score was 29. A brain MRI showed moderate cerebral and cerebellar atrophy and high-intensity areas in the cerebral white matter in the T2-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images (figure 1A). The MRI diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) revealed a high-intensity signal in the corticomedullary junction, and these areas showed isointensity and low intensity on the ADC map (figure 1A). A cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination showed no pleocytosis or protein elevation and a normal glucose level. The nerve conduction studies …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors JS contributed this study by design and conceptualisation, analysis of data and drafting the manuscript. NK contributed this study by acquisition of data and drafting the manuscript. ES contributed this study by acquisition of data and drafting the manuscript. MI contributed this study by acquisition of data and drafting the manuscript. RN contributed this study by analysis of data and drafting the manuscript. HK contributed this study by analysis of data and drafting the manuscript. YI contributed this study by conceptualisation, analysis of data and drafting the manuscript. MY contributed this study by analysis of data and revising the manuscript. TT contributed this study by acquisition of data, analysis of data and drafting the manuscript. SC contributed this study by acquisition of data, analysis of data and drafting the manuscript. MK contributed this study by conceptualisation and revising the manuscript. FT contributed this study by conceptualisation and revising the manuscript. GS contributed this study by design and conceptualisation and revising the manuscript. All the above-mentioned members approved the final version of this paper to be published.

    • Funding This study was sponsored by a global COE grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and a grant from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor of Japan.

    • Competing interests None.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Ethics approval The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Nagoya University School of Medicine.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.