ORPHA:97249
Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 3
Also known as: Cerebellar atrophy with progressive microcephaly · PCH3
Publications
53
46.9th percentile
Trials
0
Interventional, condition-specific
Researchers
529
Distinct authors in sample
Gene link
PCLO
Strong
Readiness
3/6
Stages with a signal
Clinical definition (Orphanet)
A rare, genetic form of pontocerebellar hypoplasia (PCH) characterized by neocortical and pontocerebellar hypoplasia with pons and cerebellum equally affected and that clinically manifests with and impaired swallowing followed by , optic atrophy and short stature from infancy onward. Movement disorders, as seen in other forms of PCH, are absent.
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:0011948
- MeSH:C548072
- OMIM:608027
- UMLS:C1842687
Additional Mondo synonyms (6)
PCH with optic atrophy · PCH without dyskinesia · PCLO non-syndromic pontocerebellar hypoplasia · cerebellar atrophy with progressive microcephaly · clam · non-syndromic pontocerebellar hypoplasia caused by mutation in PCLO
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.”
3/6 stages with a signal
No specific-condition interventional trial, but broader-category trials exist — discuss eligibility with a clinician.
- Gene identifiedPresent
Strong — PCLO
- LiteraturePresent
53 matched papers (35 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 trialPartial
None under the specific name; 1 for broader category pontocerebellar hypoplasia
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 (PCLO).
GenCC classification: Strong.
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?
53
53 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.
53 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).
35 in the last 10 years · medium confidence · 46.9th percentile (publications denominator)
Phrase hits: 53 · MeSH hits: 1
Who's working on it?
529
Distinct author names in 53 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.
- 01Ackermann F5 papers · 2025
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases e.V. (DZNE), Charité Medical University, Berlin, Germany.
Papers in Europe PMC - 02Baas F3 papers · 2018
Department of Clinical Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Papers in Europe PMC - 03Barth PG3 papers · 2018
Department of Pediatric Neurology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Papers in Europe PMC - 04Bruns C3 papers · 2020
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases e.V. (DZNE), Charité Medical University, Berlin, Germany.
Papers in Europe PMC - 05Falck J3 papers · 2025
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Charité Medical University, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
Papers in Europe PMC - 06Garner CC3 papers · 2023
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases e.V. (DZNE), Charité Medical University, Berlin, Germany.
Papers in Europe PMC - 07Hamra FK3 papers · 2020
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, United States.
Papers in Europe PMC - 08Izsvák Z3 papers · 2020
Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Society, Berlin, Germany.
Papers in Europe PMC - 09
- 10Mochida GH3 papers · 2015
Division of Genetics and Genomics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, MA 02115, USA; Pediatric Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
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). 1 trial are registered for pontocerebellar hypoplasia, the broader category — shown separately because they may or may not enrol this specific subtype.
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.
1 interventional trial matched pontocerebellar hypoplasia, the broader category — listed below. Those studies are not counted in the condition-specific total.
Broader category: pontocerebellar hypoplasia
1
Interventional trials for the parent category, exclusive of NCT IDs already counted above. Eligibility for this subtype is not guaranteed.
Worth raising with a clinician. How we count trials.
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.
"Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 3" OR "Cerebellar atrophy with progressive microcephaly" OR "PCH with optic atrophy" OR "PCH without dyskinesia" OR "PCLO non-syndromic pontocerebellar hypoplasia" OR "non-syndromic pontocerebellar hypoplasia caused by mutation in PCLO"
MeSH descriptor terms unioned into the query: Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia Type 3
ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):
"Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 3" OR "Cerebellar atrophy with progressive microcephaly" OR "PCH with optic atrophy" OR "PCH without dyskinesia" OR "PCLO non-syndromic pontocerebellar hypoplasia" OR "non-syndromic pontocerebellar hypoplasia caused by mutation in PCLO" OR "PCLO"
Recall-expansion terms: PCLO
Study-type breakdown: 0 interventional · 0 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.
Parent-category trials query:
"pontocerebellar hypoplasia"
Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase, mesh, recall-expansion; with hits: phrase, mesh
Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov
Synonyms dropped by stoplist: PCH3; clam
Confidence reasoning
- Preferred label is multi-word and distinctive
- 2 synonym(s) dropped by stoplist (may under-count)
- No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus
Ingested 2026-07-27T05:04:12.026Z