Undiagnosed Disease Network collaborative approach in diagnosing rare disease in a patient with a mosaic CACNA1D variant.

The Undiagnosed Disease Network (UDN) is comprised of clinical and research experts collaborating to diagnose rare disease. The UDN is funded by the National Institutes of Health and includes 12 different clinical sites (About Us, 2022). Here we highlight the success of collaborative efforts within the UDN Clinical Site at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in utilizing a cohort of experts in bioinformatics, structural biology, and genetics specialists in diagnosing rare disease. Our UDN team identified a de novo mosaic CACNA1D variant c.2299T>C in a 5-year-old female with a history of global developmental delay, dystonia, dyskinesis, and seizures. Using a collaborative multidisciplinary approach, our VUMC UDN team diagnosed the participant with Primary Aldosteronism, Seizures, and Neurologic abnormalities (PASNA) OMIM: 615474 due to a rare mosaic CACNA1D variant (O'Neill, 2013). Interestingly, this patient was mosaic, a phenotypic trait previously unreported in PASNA cases. This report highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in diagnosing rare disease.

Probable digenic inheritance of Diamond-Blackfan anemia.

A 26-year-old female proband with a clinical diagnosis and consistent phenotype of Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA, OMIM 105650) without an identified genotype was referred to the Undiagnosed Diseases Network. DBA is classically associated with monoallelic variants that have an autosomal-dominant or -recessive mode of inheritance. Intriguingly, her case was solved by a detection of a digenic interaction between non-allelic RPS19 and RPL27 variants. This was confirmed with a machine learning structural model, co-segregation analysis, and RNA sequencing. This is the first report of DBA caused by a digenic effect of two non-allelic variants demonstrated by machine learning structural model. This case suggests that atypical phenotypic presentations of DBA may be caused by digenic inheritance in some individuals. We also conclude that a machine learning structural model can be useful in detecting digenic models of possible interactions between products encoded by alleles of different genes inherited from non-affected carrier parents that can result in DBA with an unrealized 25% recurrence risk.

Novel variant in CADM3 causes Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

CADM3 has been recently reported causing a rare axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease in three independent Caucasian families carrying a recurrent change. We describe the first alternative causative mutation in CADM3 in a family from black African and also observed de novo in a patient of Caucasian ancestry. The disease inheritance was consistent with autosomal dominant and sporadic patterns, respectively. Eight patients and their relatives were enroled from both families. The mean age at diagnosis was 33.9 years, and walking difficulty was commonly the first symptom. Neurological examination showed distal muscle weakness and atrophy, sensory loss and foot and hand deformities. A high clinical variability was noted, but as seen in CADM3-associated neuropathy, symptoms were more pronounced in the arms in some patients. Nerve conduction studies showed no response in most of the examined nerves, and an axonal type of neuropathy, where recorded. Whole exome sequencing revealed a novel missense variant (c.1102G>T; Gly368Cys) in CADM3, segregating with the disease. Functional analyses showed a significant decrease in CADM3-Gly368Cys protein levels in the membrane and major structural changes in its predicted secondary structure. Therefore, we extend the genotype spectrum of CADM3, underlining the need for genetic studies in underrepresented populations like in Africa.

A medical odyssey of a 72-year-old man with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2 newly diagnosed with biallelic variants in SORD gene causing sorbitol dehydrogenase deficiency.

A 72-year-old man was referred to the Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) because of gradual progressive weakness in both lower extremities for the past 45 years. He was initially diagnosed as having Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2 (CMT2) without a defined molecular genetic cause. Exome sequencing (ES) failed to detect deleterious neuromuscular variants. Very recently, biallelic variants in sorbitol dehydrogenase (SORD) were discovered to be a novel cause of inherited neuropathies including CMT2 or distal hereditary motor neuropathy (dHMN) referred to as Sorbitol Dehydrogenase Deficiency with Peripheral Neuropathy (SORDD, OMIM 618912). The most common variant identified was c.757delG; p.A253Qfs*27. Through the Vanderbilt UDN clinical site, this patient was formally diagnosed with SORDD after the identification of homozygosity for the above SORD frameshift through UDN Genome Sequencing (GS). His medical odyssey was solved by GS and detection of extremely high levels of sorbitol. The diagnosis provided him the opportunity to receive potential treatment with an investigational drug in a clinical trial for SORDD. We suggest that similar studies be considered in other individuals thought to possibly have CMT2 or dHMN.

Limitations of exome sequencing in detecting rare and undiagnosed diseases.

While exome sequencing (ES) is commonly the final diagnostic step in clinical genetics, it may miss diagnoses. To clarify the limitations of ES, we investigated the diagnostic yield of genetic tests beyond ES in our Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN) participants. We reviewed the yield of additional genetic testing including genome sequencing (GS), copy number variant (CNV), noncoding variant (NCV), repeat expansion (RE), or methylation testing in UDN cases with nondiagnostic ES results. Overall, 36/54 (67%) of total diagnoses were based on clinical findings and coding variants found by ES and 3/54 (6%) were based on clinical findings only. The remaining 15/54 (28%) required testing beyond ES. Of these, 7/15 (47%) had NCV, 6/15 (40%) CNV, and 2/15 (13%) had a RE or a DNA methylation disorder. Thus 18/54 (33%) of diagnoses were not solved exclusively by ES. Several methods were needed to detect and/or confirm the functional effects of the variants missed by ES, and in some cases by GS. These results indicate that tests to detect elusive variants should be considered after nondiagnostic preliminary steps. Further studies are needed to determine the cost-effectiveness of tests beyond ES that provide diagnoses and insights to possible treatment.

Whole genome sequencing reveals novel IGHMBP2 variant leading to unique cryptic splice-site and Charcot-Marie-Tooth phenotype with early onset symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Rare variants (RV) in immunoglobulin mu-binding protein 2 (IGHMBP2) [OMIM 600502] can cause an autosomal recessive type of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease [OMIM 616155], an inherited peripheral neuropathy. Over 40 different genes are associated with CMT, with different possible inheritance patterns. METHODS AND RESULTS: An 11-year-old female with motor delays was found to have distal atrophy, weakness, and areflexia without bulbar or sensory findings. Her clinical evaluation was unrevealing. Whole exome sequencing (WES) revealed a maternally inherited IGHMBP2 RV (c.1730T>C) predicted to be pathogenic, but no variant on the other allele was identified. Deletion and duplication analysis was negative. She was referred to the Undiagnosed Disease Network (UDN) for further evaluation. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) confirmed the previously identified IGHMBP2 RV and identified a paternally inherited non-coding IGHMBP2 RV. This was predicted to activate a cryptic splice site perturbing IGHMBP2 splicing. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis was consistent with activation of the cryptic splice site. The abnormal transcript was shown to undergo nonsense-mediated decay (NMD), resulting in halpoinsufficiency. CONCLUSION: This case demonstrates the deficiencies of WES and traditional molecular analyses and highlights the advantages of utilization of WGS and functional studies.

Rare variants in RTEL1 are associated with familial interstitial pneumonia.

RATIONALE: Up to 20% of cases of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia cluster in families, comprising the syndrome of familial interstitial pneumonia (FIP); however, the genetic basis of FIP remains uncertain in most families. OBJECTIVES: To determine if new disease-causing rare genetic variants could be identified using whole-exome sequencing of affected members from FIP families, providing additional insights into disease pathogenesis. METHODS: Affected subjects from 25 kindreds were selected from an ongoing FIP registry for whole-exome sequencing from genomic DNA. Candidate rare variants were confirmed by Sanger sequencing, and cosegregation analysis was performed in families, followed by additional sequencing of affected individuals from another 163 kindreds. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We identified a potentially damaging rare variant in the gene encoding for regulator of telomere elongation helicase 1 (RTEL1) that segregated with disease and was associated with very short telomeres in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in 1 of 25 families in our original whole-exome sequencing cohort. Evaluation of affected individuals in 163 additional kindreds revealed another eight families (4.7%) with heterozygous rare variants in RTEL1 that segregated with clinical FIP. Probands and unaffected carriers of these rare variants had short telomeres (<10% for age) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and increased T-circle formation, suggesting impaired RTEL1 function. CONCLUSIONS: Rare loss-of-function variants in RTEL1 represent a newly defined genetic predisposition for FIP, supporting the importance of telomere-related pathways in pulmonary fibrosis.