Genetic Investigation of Consanguineous Pakistani Families Segregating Rare Spinocerebellar Disorders

• Published in: Genes 2023-07, Vol.14 (7), p.1404
• Main Authors: Saadi, Saadia Maryam, Cali, Elisa, Khalid, Lubaba Bintee, Yousaf, Hammad, Zafar, Ghazala, Khan, Haq Nawaz, Sher, Muhammad, Vona, Barbara, Abdullah, Uzma, Malik, Naveed Altaf, Klar, Joakim, Efthymiou, Stephanie, Dahl, Niklas, Houlden, Henry, Toft, Mathias, Baig, Shahid Mahmood, Fatima, Ambrin, Iqbal, Zafar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; ataxia; Cerebellar Ataxia; Cerebellum; Cognitive ability; consanguinity; DNA Helicases - genetics; DNA sequencing; Dysarthria; Dysphagia; Eye diseases; Family; Foot diseases; Gait; Genetic engineering; Genomes; Genomics; Genotype & phenotype; Hip dislocation; Humans; Investigations; Multifunctional Enzymes - genetics; Mutation; neurological disorders; Next-generation sequencing; Nucleotide sequencing; Pakistan; Patients; Pedigree; Phenotypes; RNA Helicases - genetics; Siblings; Software; Spastic paraparesis; spastic paraplegia; Spasticity; spinocerebellar
• ISSN: 2073-4425; 2073-4425
• DOI: 10.3390/genes14071404

Spinocerebellar disorders are a vast group of rare neurogenetic conditions, generally characterized by overlapping clinical symptoms including progressive cerebellar ataxia, spastic paraparesis, cognitive deficiencies, skeletal/muscular and ocular abnormalities. The objective of the present study is to identify the underlying genetic causes of the rare spinocerebellar disorders in the Pakistani population. Herein, nine consanguineous families presenting different spinocerebellar phenotypes have been investigated using whole exome sequencing. Sanger sequencing was performed for segregation analysis in all the available individuals of each family. The molecular analysis of these families identified six novel pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants; : c.1093del, : c.1201C>T, : c.2156A>T, : c.2171-3T>G, : c.3145T>A, and : c.334_335dup, and three already reported pathogenic variants; : c.159_176del, : c.689T>G, and : c.5308_5311del. The clinical features of all patients in each family are concurrent with the already reported cases. Hence, the current study expands the mutation spectrum of rare spinocerebellar disorders and implies the usefulness of next-generation sequencing in combination with clinical investigation for better diagnosis of these overlapping phenotypes.