Cited by 343DNA Repair MechanismsGenetic and rare skin diseases.Skin Protection and Aging

Xeroderma pigmentosum

Open access
Lehmann, Alan R, McGibbon, David, Stefanini, Miria·2011·Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases

Abstract

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is defined by extreme sensitivity to sunlight, resulting in sunburn, pigment changes in the skin and a greatly elevated incidence of skin cancers. It is a rare autosomal recessive disorder and has been found in all continents and racial groups. Estimated incidences vary from 1 in 20, 000 in Japan to 1 in 250, 000 in the USA, and approximately 2.3 per million live births in Western Europe.The first features are either extreme sensitivity to sunlight, triggering severe sunburn, or, in patients who do not show this sun-sensitivity, abnormal lentiginosis (freckle-like pigmentation due to increased numbers of melanocytes) on sun-exposed areas. This is followed by areas of increased or decreased pigmentation, skin aging and multiple skin cancers, if the individuals are not protected from sunlight. A minority of patients show progressive neurological abnormalities. There are eight XP complementation groups, corresponding to eight genes, which, if defective, can result in XP. The products of these genes are involved in the repair of ultraviolet (UV)-induced damage in DNA. Seven of the gene products (XPA through G) are required to remove UV damage from the DNA. The eighth (XPV or DNA polymerase η) is required to replicate DNA containing unrepaired damage. There is wide variability in clinical features both between and within XP groups. Diagnosis is made clinically by the presence, from birth, of an acute and prolonged sunburn response at all exposed sites, unusually early lentiginosis in sun-exposed areas or onset of skin cancers at a young age. The clinical diagnosis is confirmed by cellular tests for defective DNA repair. These features distinguish XP from other photodermatoses such as solar urticaria and polymorphic light eruption, Cockayne Syndrome (no pigmentation changes, different repair defect) and other lentiginoses such as Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, Leopard syndrome and Carney complex (pigmentation not sun-associated), which are inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion. Antenatal diagnosis can be performed by measuring DNA repair or by mutation analysis in CVS cells or in amniocytes. Although there is no cure for XP, the skin effects can be minimised by rigorous protection from sunlight and early removal of pre-cancerous lesions. In the absence of neurological problems and with lifetime protection against sunlight, the prognosis is good. In patients with neurological problems, these are progressive, leading to disabilities and a shortened lifespan.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1186/1750-1172-6-70

Cites

17 of 17 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Conditions with mutations in NER pathways include xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), Cockayne syndrome (CS), trichothiodystrophy (TTD), UV-sensitive syndrome (UV-SS), and cerebro-oculo-facioskeletal syndrome (COFS).

    “These include the conditions with mutations in NER pathways (presented in Table 3) such as xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) [149,150], Cockayne syndrome (CS) [151,152], trichothiodystrophy (TTD) [153,154,155,156], UV-sensitive syndrome (UV-SS), and cerebro-oculo-facioskeletal syndrome (COFS) [157,158,159].”
  • Most xeroderma pigmentosum complementation groups A-G have a high incidence of skin tumors and deficiencies in nucleotide excision repair.

    “Another indirect evidence for the implication of photoinduced damage to DNA in carcinogenicity is provided by the high incidence of skin tumors in most of the complementation groups A-G of xeroderma pigmentosum patients (17,18) who suffer from deficiencies in nucleotide excision repair (19).”
  • Photolesions are repaired by NER, a multistep process involving XPA, ERCC1, ERCC3, XPC, ERCC2, DDB2, ERCC4, and ERCC5.

    “Photolesions engage the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway, which corrects UV-induced DNA damage in a multistep process involving numerous repair factors including XPA, ERCC1, ERCC3 (XP-B), XPC, ERCC2 (XP-D), DDB2 (XP-E), ERCC4 (XP-F) and ERCC5 (XP-G)”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Stefanini M Kraemer KHK Ruggieri M, Pascual-Castroviejo I, Di Rocco C Xeroderma pigmentosum Neurocutaneous Diseases 2008 Chapter 51 771 792

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Lehmann, A. R., McGibbon, D., & Stefanini, M.
Affiliations
  • University of Sussex (GB)
  • St Thomas' Hospital (GB)
  • Istituto di Genetica Molecolare (IT)
Corresponding author
Lehmann, Alan R
Venue
Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases
Published
2011
Volume
6
Issue
1
Pages
70
ISSN
1750-1172 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4244842284
Cited by
343
References
17
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 10
FWCI
6.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Sussex Research Online (University of Sussex) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion)
Funders
Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › DNA Repair Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic and rare skin diseases.
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Dermatology › Skin Protection and Aging
Keywords
xeroderma pigmentosum, DNA repair deficiency, UV-induced DNA damage, sun sensitivity, skin cancer predisposition, lentiginosis, photodermatosis, Cockayne syndrome, prenatal diagnosis, neurological complications
MeSH terms
DNA Repair, Europe, Humans, Japan, Neoplasms, Nervous System Diseases, United States, Xeroderma Pigmentosum

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review