Recent progress in oculopharyngodistal myopathy research from clinical and genetic viewpoints

Oculopharyngodistal myopathy (OPDM) is a rare muscular disorder characterized by ocular symptoms, pharyngeal symptoms, facial weakness, and distal predominant limb muscle weakness. The cause of the disease was unknown for a long time. Recently, however, it has been reported that expansions of CGG or CCG repeats in LRP12 , LOC642361 / NUTM2B-AS1 , GIPC1 , NOTCH2NLC , RILPL1 , and ABCD3 are the causes of the disease. Cases sometimes present with neurological symptoms, and the clinical spectrum of diseases caused by expansions of CGG or CCG repeats has been proposed to be called FNOP-spectrum disorder after the names of fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome, neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease, oculopharyngeal myopathy with leukoencephalopathy, and OPDM. In this article, the recent progress in the field of OPDM is reviewed, and remaining issues in OPDM are discussed.