Leber optic atrophy, susceptibility to

Leber optic atrophy, also known as Leber hereditary optic atrophy (LHON; 535000), is characterized by bilateral, painless, subacute central vision loss in young adults resulting from primary degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) accompanied by ascending optic atrophy (summary by Yu et al., 2020). Variation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) contributes to the pathogenesis of the disease. Modifier of Leber optic atrophy (LOAM) exhibits increased penetrance and earlier age of onset compared to Leber optic atrophy caused by the LHON11778A mutation in the MTND4 gene (516003.0001) alone, due to the action of mutation in PRICKLE3 as a modifier of expression of the disease. For a general description and discussion of genetic heterogeneity of Leber optic atrophy, see 535000. [from OMIM]