Whole exome sequencing identifies novel variant underlying hereditary spastic paraplegia in consanguineous Pakistani families.

Zulfiqar S, Tariq M, Ali Z, Fatima A, Klar J, Abdullah U, Ali A, Ramzan S, He S, Zhang J, Khan A, Shah S, Khan S, Makhdoom EH, Schuster J, Dahl N, Baig SM

J Clin Neurosci 67 (-) 19-23 [2019-09-00; online 2019-07-04]

Hereditary Spastic paraplegias (HSPs) are heterogeneous group of degenerative disorders characterized by progressive weakness and spasticity of the lower limbs, combined with additional neurological features. This study aimed to identify causative gene variants in two nonrelated consanguineous Pakistani families segregating HSP. Whole exome sequencing (WES) was performed on a total of five individuals from two families including four affected and one phenotypically normal individual. The variants were validated by Sanger sequencing and segregation analysis. In family A, a novel homozygous variant c.604G > A (p.Glu202Lys) was identified in the CYP2U1 gene with clinical symptoms of SPG56 in 3 siblings. Whereas, a previously reported variant c.5769delT (p.Ser1923Argfs*28) in the SPG11 gene was identified in family B manifesting clinical features of SPG11 in 3 affected individuals. Our combined findings add to the clinical and genetic variability associated with CYP2U1 and SPG11 variants highlighting the complexity of HSPs. These findings further emphasize the usefulness of WES as a powerful diagnostic tool.

NGI Uppsala (Uppsala Genome Center) [Service]

National Genomics Infrastructure [Service]

PubMed 31281085

DOI 10.1016/j.jocn.2019.06.039

Crossref 10.1016/j.jocn.2019.06.039

pii: S0967-5868(18)32073-3