A juvenile case of MELAS with T3271C mitochondrial DNA mutation.

We present here a patient with muscle fatigue and poor growth since the age of 6 y. The diagnosis of a mitochondrial disease was based on the presence of ragged red fibers in the muscle biopsy and on a combined defect of mitochondrial DNA-encoded respiratory enzymes. Epilepsia partialis continua with stroke-like episodes appeared 2 mo before death at the age of 18 and prompted a search for mitochondrial DNA mutations associated with mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes. Minisequencing of the patient's DNA samples revealed a heteroplasmic T3271C mutation with a 78-94% mutation load in her fibroblasts or autopsy-derived tissue samples. This is the ninth reported non-Japanese patient with T3271C mutation. Our patient shows that despite very high proportion of mutant mtDNA, the T3271C mutation can give rise to mild symptoms in childhood and to a rapid terminal phase that simulates encephalitis.