tuberous sclerosis

Meaning

Noun

• A rare disease that causes benign tumors to grow in the human brain, kidneys, heart, liver, eyes, lungs and skin, caused by a mutation in the genes for the tumor growth suppressor proteins hamartin and tuberin.

Related

Similar words

• Bourneville disease
• epiloia
• tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)
• Bourneville disease, Bourneville's disease, Bourneville–Pringle disease

Origin

• Name composed of the Latin tuber (swelling) and the Greek skleros (hard), referring to the pathological finding of thick, firm, and pale gyri, called "tubers", in the brains of patients post mortem, first described by Désiré-Magloire Bourneville in 1880.