ORPHA:169079
Cernunnos-XLF deficiency
Also known as: Cernunnos XLFD · Cernunnos deficiency · Combined immunodeficiency-microcephaly-growth retardation-sensitivity to ionizing radiation syndrome · NHEJ1 deficiency
Query health: suspect — Only one of 3 strategies returned hits (phrase).
Publications
99
57.1th percentile
Trials
0
Interventional, condition-specific
Researchers
609
Distinct authors in sample
Gene link
NHEJ1
Definitive
Readiness
2/6
Stages with a signal
Clinical definition (Orphanet)
Cernunnos-XLF deficiency is a rare form of combined immunodeficiency characterized by microcephaly, growth retardation, and T and B cell lymphopenia.
How rare: <1 / 1 000 000 — fewer than one in a million. In a city the size of Kolkata, that might mean on the order of fifteen people.
Cross-references
Joined from Mondo / Orphanet. MeSH labels may enter searches; UMLS / OMIM / NCIT are stored for reference.
- MONDO:0012650
- MeSH:C566970
- OMIM:611291
- UMLS:C1969799
Additional Mondo synonyms (2)
combined immunodeficiency-microcephaly-growth retardation-sensitivity to ionising radiation syndrome · combined immunodeficiency-microcephaly-growth retardation-sensitivity to ionizing radiation syndrome
Research stages
Trial readiness signals
Where this condition sits on an open-data research pipeline — not how close a treatment is, and not medical advice. Empty stages often mean “not in these databases under this Mondo ID,” not “impossible.”
2/6 stages with a signal
No matched interventional trial; the gene is known and literature exists — preclinical or natural-history work may still be the practical next step.
- Gene identifiedPresent
Definitive — NHEJ1
- LiteraturePresent
99 matched papers (60 in last 10 years) Source
- Phenotype characterisedNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / HPO
- Animal modelNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / Alliance
- Orphan designationNot checked
FDA/EMA orphan-drug designation not enriched yet
- Interventional trialNot found
No matched interventional trial under our ClinicalTrials.gov rules
Biology
Genes and phenotypes
Gene–disease validity from GenCC, plus phenotypes and animal models joined from Monarch Initiative via Mondo ID — not a clinical diagnosis aid.
Do we know what causes it?
Yes — we know a specific gene responsible (NHEJ1).
GenCC classification: Definitive.
Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)
Not enriched in this build — Monarch phenotype joins were not run for this record.
Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)
Not enriched in this build.
Literature
Is anyone studying this?
99
99 papers have ever been published on this condition (under this name). For scale, breast cancer has over 700,000. Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=5449) is 41.
99 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 41 (publications denominator n=5449).
60 in the last 10 years · high confidence · 57.1th percentile (publications denominator)
Phrase hits: 99 · MeSH hits: 0
Who's working on it?
609
Distinct author names in 99 sampled papers — named people below.
Who's working on it?
No interventional trial matched this name; these authors publish on it in the sampled literature — a practical starting point for contact.
- 01de Villartay JP12 papers · 2024
Genome Dynamics in the Immune System Laboratory, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, UMR 1163, Institut Imagine, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75006 Paris, France devillartay@gmail.com.
Papers in Europe PMC - 02Gennery AR10 papers · 2022
Institute of Cellular Medicine, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. andrew.gennery@ncl.ac.uk.
Papers in Europe PMC - 03Cunningham-Rundles C7 papers · 2025
Department of Medicine and Pediatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Papers in Europe PMC - 04Casanova JL6 papers · 2020
Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, Necker Branch, INSERM UMR1163, Necker Hospital for Sick Children, Paris, France.
Papers in Europe PMC - 05
- 06Ochs HD6 papers · 2020
Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington and Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA.
Papers in Europe PMC - 07Puck J6 papers · 2020
Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Papers in Europe PMC - 08Revy P6 papers · 2016
Genome Dynamics in the Immune System Laboratory, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, UMR 1163, Institut Imagine, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75006 Paris, France.
Papers in Europe PMC - 09Al-Herz W5 papers · 2020
Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Papers in Europe PMC - 10Bousfiha A5 papers · 2020
Clinical Immunology Unit, Casablanca Children's Hospital, Ibn Rochd Medical School, King Hassan II University, Casablanca, Morocco.
Papers in Europe PMC
Clinical research
Is a treatment being tested?
0
interventional trials for this specific condition
No interventional trial testing a treatment matched this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov (observational studies and pan-disease registries are listed separately when present).
Data as of 27 July 2026
No matched interventional trials. This is true for 73% of diseases in the trials denominator (5114 of 7003). Here are the researchers publishing on it.
high confidence · 36.5th percentile (trials denominator)
Recruiting interventional trials
From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set
No interventional trial testing a treatment was found for this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov.
See who's working on it — people publishing on this disease are often the practical next contact when no trial is listed.
Where to find support
We do not yet link condition-specific patient organisations. These umbrella groups support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families:
India — NPRD
Last verified 2026-07-26Likely covered — the policy lists Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) as a category (Group 1), and this condition is a form of it. Confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence.
Group 1 — one-time curative treatment
Up to ₹50 lakh per patient
Financial support for treatment at notified Centres of Excellence (figures evolved from the original ₹20 lakh Group-1 ceiling).
Policy figures change. Verify current MoHFW / CoE guidance before relying on any amount. Verify
Centres of Excellence (15)
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) — New Delhi, Delhi
- Maulana Azad Medical College — New Delhi, Delhi
- Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences — Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
- Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) — Chandigarh, Chandigarh
- Centre for DNA Fingerprinting & Diagnostics with Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences — Hyderabad, Telangana
- King Edward Memorial Hospital — Mumbai, Maharashtra
- Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER) — Kolkata, West Bengal
- Centre for Human Genetics with Indira Gandhi Hospital — Bengaluru, Karnataka
- Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children (ICH & HC) — Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) — Jodhpur, Rajasthan
- Sree Avittam Thirunal Hospital (SAT), Government Medical College — Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) — Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
- Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) — Imphal, Manipur
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) — Patna, Bihar
- Assam Medical College & Hospital — Dibrugarh, Assam
Voluntary contributions / crowdfunding (separate from CoE funding): https://rarediseases.mohfw.gov.in/
Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.
How we counted this
Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored on the overview but are not added to the query string.
"Cernunnos-XLF deficiency" OR "Cernunnos XLFD" OR "Cernunnos deficiency" OR "Combined immunodeficiency-microcephaly-growth retardation-sensitivity to ionizing radiation syndrome" OR "NHEJ1 deficiency" OR "combined immunodeficiency-microcephaly-growth retardation-sensitivity to ionising radiation syndrome"
MeSH descriptor terms unioned into the query: Severe Combined Immunodeficiency with Microcephaly, Growth Retardation, and Sensitivity to Ionizing Radiation
ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):
"Cernunnos-XLF deficiency" OR "Cernunnos XLFD" OR "Cernunnos deficiency" OR "Combined immunodeficiency-microcephaly-growth retardation-sensitivity to ionizing radiation syndrome" OR "NHEJ1 deficiency" OR "combined immunodeficiency-microcephaly-growth retardation-sensitivity to ionising radiation syndrome" OR "Severe Combined Immunodeficiency with Microcephaly, Growth Retardation, and Sensitivity to Ionizing Radiation" OR "NHEJ1"
Recall-expansion terms: NHEJ1
Study-type breakdown: 0 interventional · 0 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.
Query health: suspect — strategies attempted: phrase, mesh, recall-expansion; with hits: phrase
Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov
Confidence reasoning
- Preferred label is multi-word and distinctive
- No synonyms dropped by stoplist
- No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus
Ingested 2026-07-27T08:34:05.753Z