WDR35 variants in a cranioectodermal dysplasia patient with early onset end-stage renal disease and retinal dystrophy.

Journal: American Journal Of Medical Genetics. Part A
Published:
Abstract

Cranioectodermal dysplasia (CED) is rare heterogeneous condition. It belongs to a group of disorders defined as ciliopathies and is associated with defective cilia function and structure. To date six genes have been associated with CED. Here we describe a 4-year-old male CED patient whose features include dolichocephaly, multi-suture craniosynostosis, epicanthus, frontal bossing, narrow thorax, limb shortening, and brachydactyly. The patient presented early-onset chronic kidney disease and was transplanted at the age of 2 years and 5 months. At the age of 3.5 years a retinal degeneration was diagnosed. Targeted sequencing by NGS revealed the presence of compound heterozygous variants in the WDR35 gene. The variants are a novel missense change in exon 9 p.(Gly303Arg) and a previously described nonsense variant in exon 18 p.(Leu641*). Our findings suggest that patients with WDR35 defects may be at risk to develop early-onset retinal degeneration. Therefore, CED patients with pathogenic variation in this gene should be assessed at least once by the ophthalmologist before the age of 4 years to detect early signs of retinal degeneration.

Authors
Joanna Walczak Sztulpa, Anna Wawrocka, Weronika Sikora, Marta Pawlak, Ewelina Bukowska Olech, Bartłomiej Kopaczewski, Agnieszka Urzykowska, Heleen Arts, Anna Gotz Więckowska, Ryszard Grenda, Anna Latos Bieleńska, Renata Glazar