ZBTB18 mutations

Inspired by a colleague's patient.

Cohen JS, Srivastava S, Farwell Hagman KD, Shinde DN, Huether R, Darcy D, Wallerstein R, Houge G, Berland S, Monaghan KG, Poretti A, Wilson AL, Chung WK, Fatemi A. Further evidence that de novo missense and truncating variants in ZBTB18 cause intellectual disability with variable features. Clin Genet. 2016 Sep 6. doi: 10.1111/cge.12861. [Epub ahead of print]

Abstract

Identification of rare genetic variants in patients with intellectual disability (ID) has been greatly accelerated by advances in next generation sequencing technologies. However, due to small numbers of patients, the complete phenotypic spectrum associated with pathogenic variants in single genes is still emerging. Among these genes is ZBTB18 (ZNF238), which is deleted in patients with 1q43q44 microdeletions who typically present with ID, microcephaly, corpus callosum (CC) abnormalities, and seizures. Here we provide additional evidence for haploinsufficiency or dysfunction of the ZBTB18 gene as the cause of ID in five unrelated patients with variable syndromic features who underwent whole exome sequencing revealing separate de novo pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in ZBTB18 (two missense alterations and three truncating alterations). The neuroimaging findings in our cohort (CC hypoplasia seen in 4/4 of our patients who underwent MRI) lend further support for ZBTB18 as a critical gene for CC abnormalities. A similar phenotype of microcephaly, CC agenesis, and cerebellar vermis hypoplasia has been reported in mice with central nervous system-specific knockout of Zbtb18. Our five patients, in addition to the previously described cases of de novo ZBTB18 variants, add to knowledge about the phenotypic spectrum associated with ZBTB18 haploinsufficiency/dysfunction.

de Munnik SA, García-Miñaúr S, Hoischen A, van Bon BW, Boycott KM, Schoots J, Hoefsloot LH, Knoers NV, Bongers EM, Brunner HG. A de novo non-sense mutation in ZBTB18 in a patient with features of the 1q43q44 microdeletion syndrome. Eur J Hum Genet. 2014 Jun;22(6):844-6.

Abstract

The phenotype of patients with a chromosome 1q43q44 microdeletion (OMIM; 612337) is characterized by intellectual disability with no or very limited speech, microcephaly, growth retardation, a recognizable facial phenotype, seizures, and agenesis of the corpus callosum. Comparison of patients with different microdeletions has previously identified ZBTB18 (ZNF238) as a candidate gene for the 1q43q44 microdeletion syndrome. Mutations in this gene have not yet been described. We performed exome sequencing in a patient with features of the 1q43q44 microdeletion syndrome that included short stature, microcephaly, global developmental delay, pronounced speech delay, and dysmorphic facial features. A single de novo non-sense mutation was detected, which was located in ZBTB18. This finding is consistent with an important role for haploinsufficiency of ZBTB18 in the phenotype of chromosome 1q43q44 microdeletions. The corpus callosum is abnormal in mice with a brain-specific knock-out of ZBTB18. Similarly, most (but not all) patients with the 1q43q44 microdeletion syndrome have agenesis or hypoplasia of the corpus callosum. In contrast, the patient with a ZBTB18 point mutation reported here had a structurally normal corpus callosum on brain MRI. Incomplete penetrance or haploinsufficiency of other genes from the critical region may explain the absence of corpus callosum agenesis in this patient with a ZBTB18 point mutation. The findings in this patient with a mutation in ZBTB18 will contribute to our understanding of the 1q43q44 microdeletion syndrome.

Ballif BC, Rosenfeld JA, Traylor R, Theisen A, Bader PI, Ladda RL, Sell SL, Steinraths M, Surti U, McGuire M, Williams S, Farrell SA, Filiano J, Schnur RE, Coffey LB, Tervo RC, Stroud T, Marble M, Netzloff M, Hanson K, Aylsworth AS, Bamforth JS, Babu D, Niyazov DM, Ravnan JB, Schultz RA, Lamb AN, Torchia BS, Bejjani BA, Shaffer LG. High-resolution array CGH defines critical regions and candidate genes for microcephaly, abnormalities of the corpus callosum, and seizure phenotypes in patients with microdeletions of 1q43q44. Hum Genet. 2012 Jan;131(1):145-56.

Abstract

Microdeletions of 1q43q44 result in a recognizable clinical disorder characterized by moderate to severe intellectual disability (ID) with limited or no expressive speech, characteristic facial features, hand and foot anomalies, microcephaly (MIC), abnormalities (agenesis/hypogenesis) of the corpus callosum (ACC), and seizures (SZR). Critical regions have been proposed for some of the more prominent features of this disorder such as MIC and ACC, yet conflicting data have prevented precise determination of the causative genes. In this study, the largest of pure interstitial and terminal deletions of 1q43q44 to date, we characterized 22 individuals by high-resolution oligonucleotide microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization. We propose critical regions and candidate genes for the MIC, ACC, and SZR phenotypes associated with this microdeletion syndrome. Three cases with MIC had small overlapping or intragenic deletions of AKT3, an isoform of the protein kinase B family. The deletion of only AKT3 in two cases implicates haploinsufficiency of this gene in the MIC phenotype. Likewise, based on the smallest region of overlap among the affected individuals, we suggest a critical region for ACC that contains ZNF238, a transcriptional and chromatin regulator highly expressed in the developing and adult brain. Finally, we describe a critical region for the SZR phenotype which contains three genes (FAM36A, C1ORF199, and HNRNPU). Although ~90% of cases in this study and in the literature fit these proposed models, the existence of phenotypic variability suggests other mechanisms such as variable expressivity, incomplete penetrance, position effects, or multigenic factors could account for additional complexity in some cases.