Familial juvenile nephronophthisis.

Familial juvenile nephronophthisis (NPH) is an autosomal recessive interstitial nephritis leading to terminal renal failure around puberty. Associations with extrarenal symptoms have been reported, mainly with Leber amaurosis (termed Senior-Løken syndrome). By means of linkage analysis a gene NPH1 for the purely renal form of NPH has been localized to chromosome 2. Genetic heterogeneity has been shown between NPH and Senior-Løken syndrome and also within the group of isolated NPH cases. Further characterization of the NPH1 region led to the isolation of large homozygous deletions in approximately 70% of patients with NPH. The detection of these deletions by PCR represents a simple noninvasive method for precise diagnosis in the majority of patients suspected of having NPH.