ORPHA:313936
PENS syndrome
Also known as: Papular epidermal nevi with skyline basal cell layers syndrome
Publications
15
26.3th percentile
Trials
0
Interventional, condition-specific
Researchers
72
Distinct authors in sample
Gene link
—
Readiness
1/6
Stages with a signal
Clinical definition (Orphanet)
PENS syndrome is a rare, genetic, neurocutaneous syndrome characterized by the presence of randomly distributed, small, white to yellowish, multiple, rounded or irregular polycyclically-shaped, epidermal keratotic papules and plaques of ''gem-like'' appearance with a rough surface, typically located on the trunk and proximal limbs, associated with variable neurological abnormalities, including psychomotor delay, , speech and language impairment and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. Clumsiness, dyslexia and ophthalmological abnormalities have also been reported.
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:0017785
- UMLS:C4749916
Additional Mondo synonyms (1)
papular epidermal nevi with skyline basal cell layers 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.”
1/6 stages with a signal
Research-stage checklist from open sources (GenCC, literature, Monarch when enriched, ClinicalTrials.gov). Not a prognosis or care recommendation.
- Gene identifiedNot found
No GenCC disease–gene assertion in this build
- LiteraturePresent
15 matched papers (9 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?
Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.
No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.
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?
15
15 papers have ever been indexed 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.
15 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).
9 in the last 10 years · medium confidence · 26.3th percentile (publications denominator)
Phrase hits: 15 · MeSH hits: 0
Who's working on it?
72
Distinct author names in 15 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.
- 01Itin P2 papers · 2017
Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Papers in Europe PMC - 02Akiyama M1 paper · 1990
Department of Dermatology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Papers in Europe PMC - 03Argenziano G1 paper · 2019
Dermatology Unit, University of Campania, Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples, Italy.
Papers in Europe PMC - 04Arunkumar SP1 paper · 2013Papers in Europe PMC
- 05Balestri R1 paper · 2017
Division of Dermatology "U.O. Multizonale", Outpatient Consultation for Rare Diseases, "S. Chiara" Hospital, Trento, Italy.
Papers in Europe PMC - 06Bhoite K1 paper · 2026
Department of Dermatology, Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College and King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Papers in Europe PMC - 07Boulbria G1 paper · 2024
REZOOLUTION Pig Consulting Services, Parc d'Activités de Gohélève, Rue Joseph et Étienne Montgolfier, Noyal-Pontivy, 56920, France. g.boulbria@rezoolution.fr.
Papers in Europe PMC - 08Cabo HA1 paper · 2026
Department of Dermatology, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Papers in Europe PMC - 09Chevance C1 paper · 2024
REZOOLUTION Pig Consulting Services, Parc d'Activités de Gohélève, Rue Joseph et Étienne Montgolfier, Noyal-Pontivy, 56920, France.
Papers in Europe PMC - 10Cho E1 paper · 2019
Department of Dermatology, The Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. eunyoung_cho@brown.edu.
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.
medium 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 2026-07-26This ORPHAcode is not on our curated NPRD list (direct or Mondo-parent match). That does not decide clinical eligibility; families in India should ask a notified Centre of Excellence about current coverage.
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.
"PENS syndrome" OR "Papular epidermal nevi with skyline basal cell layers syndrome"
ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):
"PENS syndrome" OR "Papular epidermal nevi with skyline basal cell layers syndrome"
Study-type breakdown: 0 interventional · 0 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.
Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase; with hits: phrase
Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov
Confidence reasoning
- Preferred label is short or not clearly distinctive
- No synonyms dropped by stoplist
- No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus
Ingested 2026-07-27T13:01:23.516Z