Is ARSA p.Arg86Trp (c.256C>T) pathogenic?

ARSA p.Arg86Trp (c.256C>T) is classified Pathogenic in ARSA (ClinVar, Multiple submitters, 5 submitters; last evaluated 2025-03-09). Very rare (popmax 0.000679%, nfe); Associated with metachromatic leukodystrophy.

What condition is associated with ARSA p.Arg86Trp (c.256C>T)?

ARSA p.Arg86Trp (c.256C>T) is associated with metachromatic leukodystrophy, frontotemporal dementia (ClinVar).

How common is ARSA p.Arg86Trp (c.256C>T) in the general population?

ARSA p.Arg86Trp (c.256C>T) is very rare (popmax 0.000679%, nfe) (gnomAD).

How is Metachromatic leukodystrophy inherited?

Typically Autosomal recessive (Orphanet). A genetic counselor can assess individual risk for a family.

ARSA p.Arg86Trp

c.256C>T · rs199476352 · VCV68126

Pathogenic Multiple submitters

Classification

Pathogenic

ClinVar

Review

Multiple submitters ★★☆☆

ClinVar · 5 submitters

gnomAD v4.1

Rare

very rare (popmax 0.000679%, nfe)

Conditions

metachromatic leukodystrophy

Computational evidence

Protein change
Missense predictors do not apply to this variant type; conservation carries the signal.
REVEL	0.971	strongly pathogenic-leaning
Splicing
SpliceAI	—	not assessed · no allele here is in the release
Constraint at this position
Conservation	phyloP 9.8	GERP 1, phastCons 1
Regional constraint	o/e 1.00	unconstrained · MANE · 2,631 bp · p 0.96 · regional, not allelic
Overall
CADD	34.0	PHRED · no single calibrated threshold — expert panels disagree

Population frequency

gnomAD v4.1 · exomes + genomes

Grpmax group 0.000679% European (non-Finnish) · 8/1,177,706 alleles

Filtering AF 0.000292% ClinGen BA1/BS1 input FAF95, joint · FAF99 0.000211%

Overall 0.000561% 9/1,605,176 alleles · very rare

Ancestry group	Frequency	1 in
Finnishnot grpmax-eligible	0.00166%	60,094
European (non-Finnish)grpmax	0.000679%	147,213

Finnish shows a higher raw frequency than the grpmax group above it. gnomAD excludes bottlenecked groups — Finnish, Ashkenazi Jewish, Amish and “Remaining individuals” — from grpmax, because founder effects make their frequencies unrepresentative for filtering. The table is sorted by frequency, so an excluded group can sit above the grpmax row.

Rarity supports pathogenicity (ACMG PM2); frequency above a disease-specific BA1/BS1 threshold argues against it. A variant frequent in one ancestry group can be near-absent in others, so a single global figure can mislead.

Variant & gene context

Gene: ARSA
Protein: p.Arg86Trp
Coding: c.256C>T
MANE Select: NM_000487
dbSNP: rs199476352
Type: single nucleotide variant
Location: chr22:50627375 (GRCh38)
Gene constraint: LOEUF 1.166 · pLI <0.01 (gnomAD)
Structure: AlphaFold pLDDT 96.43 · 10 PDB
Residue 86: a UniProt-annotated variant site (in mld; severe; no enzyme residual activity; leads to a decreased stability of the mutant enzyme; causes an arrest of the mutant enzyme polypeptide in a prelysosomal compartment)

Full ARSA gene report on Sugi Atlas → Gene function, pathways, protein structure, interactions & more

Disease context

metachromatic leukodystrophy — disease report on Sugi Atlas → Associated genes, phenotypes, clinical trials & treatments

Also linked: frontotemporal dementia

For Metachromatic leukodystrophy (Orphanet):

Inheritance: Autosomal recessive
Onset: Adolescent, Adult, Childhood, Infancy
Prevalence: 1-9 / 100 000 (Europe)

Similar variants

ARSA p.Arg86Gln Pathogenic ★★ same residue
ARSA p.Arg86Gly Likely pathogenic ★★ same residue
ARSA p.Arg86Leu Likely pathogenic ★ same residue
ARSA p.Arg86= Likely benign ★ same residue
ARSA c.1107+1G>A Pathogenic/Likely pathogenic ★★ same condition
ARSA c.1107+1G>T Pathogenic ★★ same condition
ARSA c.1108-2A>G Pathogenic ★★ same condition
ARSA c.1108-3C>G Pathogenic/Likely pathogenic ★★ same condition

Built on 18 open, versioned datasets — ClinVar, gnomAD, AlphaMissense, REVEL, ClinGen & more — plus Sugi Variant's own cross-source analysis. Source data 2026-01–2026-10, ClinVar 2026-10. Full sources & versions →

Cite Sugi Variant

Gür T. Sugi Variant: A Deterministic Per-Variant Germline Reference from a Knowledge Graph for Humans and AI Agents. 2026. doi:10.5281/zenodo.21509445. This variant: https://sugi.bio/variant/arsa-p-arg86trp (accessed [today's date]).

Preprint & method: sugi.bio/variant/method Machine-readable: this page as Markdown