A novel mutation in SEPN1 causing rigid spine muscular dystrophy 1: a Case report

Fateme Ziyaee,
Eslam Shorafa,
Hassan Dastsooz,
Parham HabibzadehView ORCID ID profile,
Hamid Nemati,
Amir Saeed,
Mohammad Silawi,
Mohammad Ali Farazi Fard,
Mohammad Ali Faghihi and
Seyed Alireza DastgheibEmail author View ORCID ID profile

BMC Medical Genetics201920:13

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12881-018-0743-1

Received: 7 September 2018
Accepted: 26 December 2018
Published: 14 January 2019

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Abstract

Background

Muscular dystrophies are a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by variable degrees of progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. There is a wide variability in the age of onset, symptoms and rate of progression in subtypes of these disorders. Herein, we present the results of our study conducted to identify the pathogenic genetic variation involved in our patient affected by rigid spine muscular dystrophy.

Case presentation

A 14-year-old boy, product of a first-cousin marriage, was enrolled in our study with failure to thrive, fatigue, muscular dystrophy, generalized muscular atrophy, kyphoscoliosis, and flexion contracture of the knees and elbows. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was carried out on the DNA of the patient to investigate all coding regions and uncovered a novel, homozygous missense mutation in SEPN1gene (c. 1379 C > T, p.Ser460Phe). This mutation has not been reported before in different public variant databases and also our database (BayanGene), so it is classified as a variation of unknown significance (VUS). Subsequently, it was confirmed that the novel variation was homozygous in our patient and heterozygous in his parents. Different bioinformatics tools showed the damaging effects of the variant on protein. Multiple sequence alignment using BLASTP on ExPASy and WebLogo, revealed the conservation of the mutated residue.

Conclusion

We reported a novel homozygous mutation in SEPN1 gene that expands our understanding of rigid spine muscular dystrophy. Although bioinformatics analyses of results were in favor of the pathogenicity of the mutation, functional studies are needed to establish the pathogenicity of the variant.