A chorea-acanthocytosis patient with novel mutations in the VPS13A gene without acanthocyte

Chorea-acanthocytosis (ChAc) is a rare clinical genetic disorder of the nervous system, which is characterized by choreiform movement disorder, cognitive decline, and psychiatric disorders. ChAc is mostly diagnosed based on its typical clinical manifestations and the increased number of acanthocytes in peripheral blood smears. Here, we report a patient, who has the characteristic clinical manifestations of ChAc with limb choreiform movements, involuntary lip and tongue bites, seizures, and emotional instability. However, her blood smear was negative for acanthocytes with scanning electron microscopy. We later identified two novel pathogenic mutations in the patient's vacuolar protein sorting homolog 13 A (VPS13A) on chromosome 9q21 by targeted gene sequencing, and she was definitively diagnosed with “ChAc.” After treatment with carbamazepine, haloperidol, the patient’s symptoms gradually improved. We consider that an acanthocyte negative blood smear cannot rule out ChAC diagnosis, and genetic testing is the “gold standard” for the diagnosis. Through a review of previous research, it is rare for a patient to have a clear diagnosis of ChAc by genetic testing, but whose blood smear is negative for acanthocytes with electron microscopy. In addition, in this report, we discovered two novel pathogenic mutations, which have not been reported previously, and extended the genetic characteristics of ChAc.