Benign paroxysmal torticollis of infancy

Summary

Benign paroxysmal torticollis of infancy (MONDO:0019113) is a disease with 1 cohort gene.

At a glance

• Prevalence: <1 / 1 000 000 (Worldwide) [Orphanet-validated]
• Cohort genes: 1
• Phenotypes (HPO): 10

Clinical features

Epidemiology

Prevalence records

2 prevalence record(s), Orphanet:

Type	Class	Value	Geography	Validation
Cases/families		150	Worldwide	Validated
Point prevalence	<1 / 1 000 000		Worldwide	Validated

Signs & symptoms

Clinical features (HPO)

10 HPO clinical features (Orphanet curated; top 10 by frequency):

HPO ID	Term	Frequency
HP:0000473	Torticollis	Very frequent (80-99%)
HP:0002457	Abnormal head movements	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0000737	Irritability	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0000741	Apathy	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0000980	Pallor	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0001251	Ataxia	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0002013	Vomiting	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0002076	Migraine	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0002321	Vertigo	Frequent (30-79%)
HP:0002329	Drowsiness	Frequent (30-79%)

Identifiers

Disease identifiers

Field	Value
Canonical name	benign paroxysmal torticollis of infancy
Mondo ID	MONDO:0019113
Orphanet	71518
ICD-11	545726308
SNOMED CT	719521002
UMLS	C3494934
MedGen	782128
GARD	0018913
Is cancer (heuristic)	no

Data availability: 1 GenCC gene-disease record.

Disease family

Classification path: disease › human disease › disease by body system or component › nervous system disorder › movement disorder › extrapyramidal and movement disease › dystonic disorder › inherited dystonia › combined dystonia › paroxysmal dystonia › benign paroxysmal torticollis of infancy

Related subtypes (2): dystonia 9, paroxysmal dyskinesia

Genetics & variants

GWAS landscape

No GWAS associations recorded — common-variant (GWAS) studies don’t cover this disease (typical for Mendelian / rare diseases). See the curated gene cohort and Mendelian overlap below.

Variant details and genetic-evidence tiers

No tiered GWAS variants or ClinVar records for this disease.

Genes & proteins

Mendelian disease overlap and somatic drivers

GenCC: 23 · Orphanet: 7 · OMIM-shared: 0 · Dual-evidence (GWAS+Mendelian): 0

GenCC gene–disease validity (cohort genes)

the Disease column is the GenCC-asserted condition — a cohort gene’s strongest validity may be for a related predisposition syndrome.

Gene	Classification	Inheritance	Disease	Records
CACNA1A	Supportive	Autosomal dominant	benign paroxysmal torticollis of infancy	23

Orphanet rare-disease linkage (cohort genes)

Gene	Orphanet ID	Rare disease
CACNA1A	Orphanet:2131	Alternating hemiplegia of childhood
CACNA1A	Orphanet:2382	Lennox-Gastaut syndrome
CACNA1A	Orphanet:442835	Non-specific early-onset epileptic encephalopathy
CACNA1A	Orphanet:569	Familial or sporadic hemiplegic migraine
CACNA1A	Orphanet:71518	Benign paroxysmal torticollis of infancy
CACNA1A	Orphanet:97	Familial paroxysmal ataxia
CACNA1A	Orphanet:98758	Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6

Cohort genes → proteins

1 cohort genes, 1 distinct canonical proteins.

Evidence partition

Subset	Genes
multi_evidence	1

Cohort genes (full)

Symbol	HGNC	Ensembl	UniProt	Name	Evidence
CACNA1A	HGNC:1388	ENSG00000141837	O00555	Voltage-dependent P/Q-type calcium channel subunit alpha-1A	gencc

Cohort function summary

Lead sentence per gene, UniProt-curated.

Symbol	Protein name	Function (lead sentence)
CACNA1A	Voltage-dependent P/Q-type calcium channel subunit alpha-1A	Voltage-sensitive calcium channels (VSCC) mediate the entry of calcium ions into excitable cells and are also involved in a variety of calcium-dependent processes, including muscle contraction, hormone or neurotransmitter release, gene exp…

Protein-family classification

Druggable: 1 · Difficult: 0 · Unknown: 0 · Druggable fraction: 1.0

Family distribution

Cohort families vs a genome-wide background (hypergeometric, BH-FDR; fold = observed/expected). Counts kept; sorted by enrichment, so the catch-all Other/Unknown bucket no longer leads.

Family	Genes	Fold	FDR
Ion channel	1	111.5×	0.009

Per-gene assignment

Symbol	Family	Druggable?	EC	InterPro (top 3)
CACNA1A	Ion channel	yes		VDCCAlpha1, CACNA1A, Ion_trans_dom

Expression context

Cohort genes with no expression data: 0.

1 cohort gene are a single-cell marker in ≥1 SCXA experiment.

Breadth distribution (Bgee present_calls)

Bucket	Genes
narrow (1-5 tissues)	0
moderate (6-20)	0
broad (>20)	1
unknown	0

Top tissues across cohort

Tissue	Cohort genes
cerebellar cortex	1
cerebellar hemisphere	1
right hemisphere of cerebellum	1

Per-gene tissue summary (top 30)

Symbol	Bgee breadth	FANTOM5 breadth	SCXA	Top tissues
CACNA1A	237	broad	marker	cerebellar hemisphere, right hemisphere of cerebellum, cerebellar cortex

Protein interactions among cohort

Intra-cohort edges: 0.

Hub genes (top 10 by interactor count)

Symbol	Interactor count
CACNA1A	346

Structural data

PDB: 1 · AlphaFold-only: 0 · No structure: 0

Cohort genes with PDB structures (top 30)

Symbol	UniProt	PDB entries
CACNA1A	O00555	4

Function

Pathway analysis

Distinct Reactome pathways touched by cohort: 6. Enrichment computed across 1 evidence-associated genes (1 with Reactome annotation).

Pathways by enrichment

Over-representation of cohort genes vs the genome-wide background (hypergeometric test, Benjamini-Hochberg FDR; fold = observed/expected over 1 annotated cohort genes). Counts and members are kept as ground-truth; sorted by enrichment.

Pathway	Cohort genes	Fold	FDR	Sample cohort genes
Presynaptic depolarization and calcium channel opening	1	951.7×	0.006	CACNA1A
Regulation of insulin secretion	1	219.6×	0.011	CACNA1A
Integration of energy metabolism	1	175.7×	0.011	CACNA1A
Transmission across Chemical Synapses	1	76.1×	0.020	CACNA1A
Neuronal System	1	44.3×	0.027	CACNA1A
Metabolism	1	11.6×	0.086	CACNA1A

GO biological processes by enrichment

Over-representation of cohort genes vs the genome-wide background (hypergeometric test, Benjamini-Hochberg FDR; fold = observed/expected over 1 annotated cohort genes). Counts and members are kept as ground-truth; sorted by enrichment.

GO term	Cohort genes	Fold	FDR	Sample cohort genes
response to amyloid-beta	1	991.3×	0.006	CACNA1A
calcium ion import across plasma membrane	1	543.6×	0.006	CACNA1A
cellular response to amyloid-beta	1	391.9×	0.006	CACNA1A
calcium ion transmembrane transport	1	210.7×	0.008	CACNA1A
modulation of chemical synaptic transmission	1	183.2×	0.008	CACNA1A
positive regulation of cytosolic calcium ion concentration	1	117.0×	0.010	CACNA1A
chemical synaptic transmission	1	77.3×	0.013	CACNA1A

Therapeutics

Drug target analysis

Approved (phase 4): 1 · Phase ≥3: 1 · Phased (≥1): 1 · Undrugged: 0

Druggability breadth: 1 of 1 evidence-associated genes (100%) have a ChEMBL target (buckets above are over the deeply-mined display cohort).

Genes with an approved drug

The molecule shown is one approved compound that hits the gene — not necessarily a drug of choice or one indicated for this disease.

Symbol	Example approved molecule
CACNA1A	NIMODIPINE

Top cohort targets by molecule count

Symbol	Molecules	Max phase
CACNA1A	2	4

Drugs targeting cohort genes (top 30)

Molecule	Max phase	Targets in cohort
NIMODIPINE	4	CACNA1A
TACRINE	4	CACNA1A

Bioactivity and enzyme data

Enzyme cohort genes (≥1 EC): 0.

Cohort genes with ChEMBL bioactivity (full, sorted by assay count)

Symbol	Assays	Type breakdown
CACNA1A	19	Binding:18, Functional:1

Pharmacogenomics

Cohort genes with a PharmGKB record: 1; with CPIC/DPWG dosing guidelines: 0.

No cohort gene has a CPIC/DPWG genotype-guided dosing guideline (PharmGKB).

Chemical tractability of cohort targets

2 approved/phased compounds have measured bioactivity against a cohort gene (and aren’t yet in disease-level trials). This is a research / tractability signal, NOT a therapeutic recommendation — a bioactivity row often reflects off-target or screening binding (e.g. promiscuous kinase inhibitors against a cohort kinase), implying no disease mechanism.

Compound	Max phase	Cohort target (bioactivity)
NIMODIPINE	4	CACNA1A
TACRINE	4	CACNA1A

Druggability pyramid

Cohort genes binned by druggability tier (high → low):

Tier	Definition	Genes	Symbols
A	Approved (phase 4 drug)	1	CACNA1A
B	Phased (≥1) drug, not yet approved	0
C	Druggable family + PDB, no drug	0
D	Druggable family + AlphaFold only, no drug	0
E	Difficult family or no structure, no drug	0

Undrugged target profiles

0 cohort genes are undrugged. Ranked by ‘starting-point quality’ (assay depth + drugged-partner adjacency).

Clinical trials & evidence

Clinical trials

Clinical trials: 0.