Genetic Epilepsy
Gene: SPTBN4 Green List (high evidence)Green List (high evidence)
PMID: 33772159: Four families with five patients harbouring novel homozygous and compound heterozygous SPTBN4. All patients presented with the key features of NEDHND. Additional symptoms comprised horizontal nystagmus, epileptiform discharges in EEG without manifest seizures, and choreoathetosis. Muscle histology revealed both characteristics of myopathy and of neuropathy. The evidence for a myopathy is mostly from the clinical and histopathological findings, but not from functional studies about the role of SPTBN4 in muscle cells. Further studies are thus needed to determine the impact of pathogenic SPTBN4 variants on the muscle cells. The clinical phenotyping and neurophysiological studies suggest that the muscle weakness seen in patients with SPTBN4 disorder may be caused by a combination of axonal neuropathy and congenital myopathy.
PMID: 29861105 - 6 patients with biallelic variants (mostly PTCs). Patients had neonatal severe hypotonia, progressive neuropathy, profound weakness with limited motor abilities.
Authors note that due to the additional phenotypes and neurophysiological studies conducted, they believe that weaknesses in patients is more likely due to axonal neuropathy and neuronopathy, rather than a myopathyCreated: 7 Aug 2021, 7:32 a.m. | Last Modified: 7 Aug 2021, 7:32 a.m.
Panel Version: 0.8671
Mode of inheritance
BIALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal
Phenotypes
Neurodevelopmental disorder with hypotonia, neuropathy, and deafness, MIM# 617519
Publications
Green List (high evidence)
Biallelic pathogenic SPTBN4 variants cause Neurodevelopmental disorder with hypotonia, neuropathy, and deafness (MIM #617519).
There are several reports on the phenotype of relevant affected individuals with severe/profound DD/ID in at least 9 individuals :
- Knierim et al (2017 - PMID: 28540413) [1 affected individual]
- Anazi et al (2017 - PMID: 28940097) [1]
- Wang et al (2018 - PMID: 29861105) [6]
- Pehlivan et al (2019 - PMID: 31230720) [1]
A recent article by Häusler et al (2019 - PMID: 31857255) describes the phenotype of 2 sibs, both presenting with motor and speech delay, although the older one had reportedly 'normal' cognitive performance allowing attendance of regular school at the age of 6 years.
Features include congenital hypotonia, severe DD and ID (in most as outlined above, ID was the primary indication for testing on several occasions), poor or absent reflexes and weakness secondary to axonal motor neuropathy, feeding and respiratory difficulties, hearing and visual impairment. Seizures have been reported in at least 4 unrelated individuals (3 by Wang et al / 1 by Pehlivan et al).
Variants in most cases were nonsense/frameshift although biallelic missense variants have also been reported. Sibs in the report by Häusler et al harbored a homozygous splicing variant.
SPTBN4 encodes a member of the beta-spectrin protein family that is expressed in the brain, peripheral nervous system, pancreas, and skeletal muscle.
βIV spectrin links ankyrinG and clustered ion channels (at axon initial segments and nodes of Ranvier) to the axonal cytoskeleton. Pathogenic variants are proposed to disrupt the cytoskeletal machinery controlling proper localization of ion channels and function of axonal domains where ion channels are normally clustered in high density. Among the evidence provided : nerve biopsies from an affected individual displayed reduced nodal Na+ channels and no nodal KCNQ2 K+ channels / Loss of AnkyrinG and βIV spectrin in animal model resulted in loss of KCNQ2- and KCNQ3- subunit containing K+ channels.
Apart from the ID / epilepsy panels please consider inclusion in other relevant ones.
Sources: LiteratureCreated: 7 May 2020, 6:21 a.m.
Mode of inheritance
BIALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal
Phenotypes
Neurodevelopmental disorder with hypotonia, neuropathy, and deafness MIM#617519
Publications
Gene: sptbn4 has been classified as Green List (High Evidence).
Gene: sptbn4 has been classified as Green List (High Evidence).
gene: SPTBN4 was added gene: SPTBN4 was added to Genetic Epilepsy. Sources: Literature Mode of inheritance for gene: SPTBN4 was set to BIALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal Publications for gene: SPTBN4 were set to 28540413; 28940097; 29861105; 31230720; 31857255 Phenotypes for gene: SPTBN4 were set to Neurodevelopmental disorder with hypotonia, neuropathy, and deafness MIM#617519 Penetrance for gene: SPTBN4 were set to Complete Review for gene: SPTBN4 was set to GREEN
If promoting or demoting a gene, please provide comments to justify a decision to move it.
Genes included in a Genomics England gene panel for a rare disease category (green list) should fit the criteria A-E outlined below.
These guidelines were developed as a combination of the ClinGen DEFINITIVE evidence for a causal role of the gene in the disease(a), and the Developmental Disorder Genotype-Phenotype (DDG2P) CONFIRMED DD Gene evidence level(b) (please see the original references provided below for full details). These help provide a guideline for expert reviewers when assessing whether a gene should be on the green or the red list of a panel.
A. There are plausible disease-causing mutations(i) within, affecting or encompassing an interpretable functional region(ii) of this gene identified in multiple (>3) unrelated cases/families with the phenotype(iii).
OR
B. There are plausible disease-causing mutations(i) within, affecting or encompassing cis-regulatory elements convincingly affecting the expression of a single gene identified in multiple (>3) unrelated cases/families with the phenotype(iii).
OR
C. As definitions A or B but in 2 or 3 unrelated cases/families with the phenotype, with the addition of convincing bioinformatic or functional evidence of causation e.g. known inborn error of metabolism with mutation in orthologous gene which is known to have the relevant deficient enzymatic activity in other species; existence of an animal model which recapitulates the human phenotype.
AND
D. Evidence indicates that disease-causing mutations follow a Mendelian pattern of causation appropriate for reporting in a diagnostic setting(iv).
AND
E. No convincing evidence exists or has emerged that contradicts the role of the gene in the specified phenotype.
(i)Plausible disease-causing mutations: Recurrent de novo mutations convincingly affecting gene function. Rare, fully-penetrant mutations - relevant genotype never, or very rarely, seen in controls. (ii) Interpretable functional region: ORF in protein coding genes miRNA stem or loop. (iii) Phenotype: the rare disease category, as described in the eligibility statement. (iv) Intermediate penetrance genes should not be included.
It’s assumed that loss-of-function variants in this gene can cause the disease/phenotype unless an exception to this rule is known. We would like to collect information regarding exceptions. An example exception is the PCSK9 gene, where loss-of-function variants are not relevant for a hypercholesterolemia phenotype as they are associated with increased LDL-cholesterol uptake via LDLR (PMID: 25911073).
If a curated set of known-pathogenic variants is available for this gene-phenotype, please contact us at panelapp@genomicsengland.co.uk
We classify loss-of-function variants as those with the following Sequence Ontology (SO) terms:
Term descriptions can be found on the PanelApp homepage and Ensembl.
If you are submitting this evaluation on behalf of a clinical laboratory please indicate whether you report variants in this gene as part of your current diagnostic practice by checking the box
Standardised terms were used to represent the gene-disease mode of inheritance, and were mapped to commonly used terms from the different sources. Below each of the terms is described, along with the equivalent commonly-used terms.
A variant on one allele of this gene can cause the disease, and imprinting has not been implicated.
A variant on the paternally-inherited allele of this gene can cause the disease, if the alternate allele is imprinted (function muted).
A variant on the maternally-inherited allele of this gene can cause the disease, if the alternate allele is imprinted (function muted).
A variant on one allele of this gene can cause the disease. This is the default used for autosomal dominant mode of inheritance where no knowledge of the imprinting status of the gene required to cause the disease is known. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: autosomal dominant, dominant, AD, DOMINANT.
A variant on both alleles of this gene is required to cause the disease. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: autosomal recessive, recessive, AR, RECESSIVE.
The disease can be caused by a variant on one or both alleles of this gene. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: autosomal recessive or autosomal dominant, recessive or dominant, AR/AD, AD/AR, DOMINANT/RECESSIVE, RECESSIVE/DOMINANT.
A variant on one allele of this gene can cause the disease, however a variant on both alleles of this gene can result in a more severe form of the disease/phenotype.
A variant in this gene can cause the disease in males as they have one X-chromosome allele, whereas a variant on both X-chromosome alleles is required to cause the disease in females. Mapped to the following commonly used term from different sources: X-linked recessive.
A variant in this gene can cause the disease in males as they have one X-chromosome allele. A variant on one allele of this gene may also cause the disease in females, though the disease/phenotype may be less severe and may have a later-onset than is seen in males. X-linked inactivation and mosaicism in different tissues complicate whether a female presents with the disease, and can change over their lifetime. This term is the default setting used for X-linked genes, where it is not known definitately whether females require a variant on each allele of this gene in order to be affected. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: X-linked dominant, x-linked, X-LINKED, X-linked.
The gene is in the mitochondrial genome and variants within this can cause this disease, maternally inherited. Mapped to the following commonly used term from different sources: Mitochondrial.
Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: Unknown, NA, information not provided.
For example, if the mode of inheritance is digenic, please indicate this in the comments and which other gene is involved.