What is Menkes Syndrome?

Menkes syndrome is a disorder that affects copper levels in the body. It is characterized by sparse and coarse hair, growth failure, and deterioration of the nervous system. Additional signs and symptoms include weak muscle tone (hypotonia), sagging facial features, seizures, mental retardation, and developmental delay. Onset of Menkes syndrome typically begins during infancy. In rare cases, symptoms begin later in childhood. Menkes' disease is transmitted as an X-linked recessive trait. Sufferers can not transport copper, which is needed by enzymes involved in making bone, nerve and other structures. A number of other diseases, including type IX Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, may be the result of allelic mutations (i.e. mutations in the same gene, but having slightly different symptoms) and it is hoped that research into these diseases may prove useful in fighting Menkes' disease. Menkes syndrome is characterized by early retardation in growth, the peculiar hair, and cerebral degeneration beginning within a month or two after birth and progressing rapidly to death in the first or second year of life. The hair is stubby and white. Microscopically it shows twisting, varying diameter along the length of the shaft, and often fractures of the shaft at regular intervals. Affected infants may be born prematurely. Symptoms appear during infancy and are largely a result of abnormal intestinal copper absorption with secondary deficiency in copper-dependent mitochonrial enzymes. Normal or slightly slowed development may proceed for 2 to 3 months, and then there will be severe developmental delay and a loss of early developmental skills. Menkes Disease is also characterized by seizures, failure to thrive, subnormal body temperature, and strikingly peculiar hair, which is kinky, colorless or steel-colored, and easily broken. There can be extensive neurodegeneration in the gray matter of the brain. Copper proteins are necessary for the body to build bone, nerves, and other tissue. Babies with Menkes syndrome have a genetic disorder that causes copper to build up in excess amounts in the kidney, while remaining deficient in the liver and brain. This causes changes in the hair, brain, bones, liver, and arteries. Menkes syndrome is an inherited disorder that results in problems in multiple parts of the body due to cells not having enough copper.Consult with your health care provider if you or your partner have a family history of Menkes syndrome and you plan to have children. A baby with Menkes syndrome will often show symptoms early in infancy. Menkes syndrome is also called: Kinky Hair Disease, Menkes Kinky Hair Syndrome, Steely Hair Disease. Menkes syndrome is caused by a defect in the ATP7A gene. The defect makes it hard for body to proper distribute and absorb copper. As a result, the brain and other parts of the body do not get enough copper. Insufficient copper levels can affect the structure of bone, skin, hair, and blood vessels and interfere with nerve function. In the meantime, copper builds up in the small intestine and kidneys. There is often a history of Menkes syndrome in a male relative. Signs include slow growth in the womb, abnormally low body temperature, bleeding in the brain and abnormal appearance of the hair under the microscope. Males will have all of their hairs show abnormal structure but females who are carriers of this trait may show only half the hairs to be abnormal.