Keratitis-ichthyosis-deafness syndrome (KID; MIM 148210) is a rare congenital disorder characterized by vascularizing keratitis, sensorineural hearing loss (HL), and progressive erythrokeratoderma. Clinical variability including a fatal course of KID in the first year of life has been reported. Germline missense mutations in GJB2, encoding connexin-26, were recently found to cause KID in 14 unrelated juvenile and adult patients. We identified a de novo GJB2 mutation G45E in a patient displaying the fatal form of the disease. No mutations were detected in five other connexin and mitochondrial genes. The G45E mutation was not reported previously in Caucasian patients but was the third most common GJB2 mutation (16% of disease alleles) in Japanese patients with autosomal recessive non-syndromic HL. This finding suggests different modes of action of the same GJB2 mutation depending on the genetic background. This hypothesis was further substantiated by our observation of a variable clinical course in unrelated KID patients from Austria harboring the common D50N mutation in GJB2.

A clinical evaluation and Cx26 mutation analysis was performed in 92 consecutive patients with sensorineural hearing loss in order to delineate the spectrum of genetically caused hearing loss. Among patients of Austrian origin, 53% were classified with hereditary hearing loss. Cx26 mutations were found in 26% of NSHL patients (40% of familial vs 18% of sporadic cases). The mutation 35delG accounted for 52.8% of all presumed GJB2 disease alleles. The second most frequent mutation was L90P (16.7%) having been reported with a prevalence of 0.7 ± 3.5% in other populations. Three novel mutations were found. The novel mutation, R143Q, was associated with dominant high-frequency hearing loss. Pseudodominant transmission of NSHL was seen in four families with Cx26 mutations. A mutation 35delG carrier rate of 0.9% was observed among 672 controls from West-Austria. Cx26 mutations were found associated with mild to profound, and with asymmetric hearing impairment. European Journal of Human Genetics (2001) 9, 226 ± 230.

Congenital abnormalities of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) constitute the most frequent cause of chronic kidney disease in children, accounting for ~50% of all cases. Although many forms of CAKUT are likely caused by single-gene defects, only few causative genes have been identified. To identify new causative genes many candidate genes need to be analyzed due to the broad genetic locus heterogeneity of CAKUT. We therefore applied our newly developed approach of DNA pooling with consecutive massively parallel exon resequencing to overcome this problem. We pooled DNA of 20 individuals and amplified by PCR all 313 exons of 30 CAKUT candidate genes. PCR products were then subjected to massively parallel exon resequencing. Mutation carriers were identified using Sanger sequencing. We repeated the experiment to cover 40 patients in total (29 with unilateral renal agenesis and 11 with other CAKUT phenotypes). We detected 5 heterozygous missense mutations in 2 candidate genes that were not previously implicated in non-syndromic CAKUT in humans, 4 mutations in the FRAS1 gene and 1 in FREM2. All mutations were absent from 96 healthy control individuals and had a PolyPhen score of >1.4 (“possibly damaging”). Recessive truncating mutations in FRAS1 and FREM2 were known to cause Fraser syndrome in humans and mice, whereas a phenotype in heterozygous carriers has not been described. We hereby identify heterozygous missense mutations in FRAS1 and FREM2 as a new cause of non-syndromic CAKUT in human.

Mutations of GJB2 (encoding connexin 26) are the most common cause of hearing loss (HL) in different populations, and a broad spectrum of GJB2 mutations has been identified. We screened 204 consecutive patients with non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss for GJB2 mutations. Causative GJB2mutations were identified in 31 (15.2%) patients, and two common mutations, c.35delG and L90P (c.269T>C), accounted for 72.1% and 9.8% of GJB2 disease alleles. In four additional patients (2.0%) only one recessive GJB2 mutation was identified, making genetic counselling difficult. No genotype-phenotype correlation was established. We found, however, that homozygotes for truncating mutations were more likely to have a more severe degree of HL compared with other genotypes. Moreover, we showed by co-segregation studies that L90P is a GJB2 disease allele, and that compound heterozygotes for L90P and any recessive mutation share a mild to moderate phenotype. GJB2-associated HL was linked with progressive HL or with recurrent sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in three of 15 cases being analysed retrospectively. We extended the phenotypic spectrum of GJB2-related disease and recommend GJB2 mutation screening also in cases of progressive HL, and recurrent SSNHL. In addition, a carrier frequency of 1/110 (0.9%) for the most common Caucasian mutation in this gene, c.35delG, was determined in 1,212 blood donors from West-Austria, supporting the prevailing hypothesis of a Mediterranean founder mutation. Based on population and patient data, an overall GJB2 mutation carrier frequency of 1.3% was estimated for West-Austria.