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. 2010 Dec;14(6):881–891. doi: 10.1089/gtmb.2010.0101

Mutations in the CHD7 Gene: The Experience of a Commercial Laboratory

Cynthia F Bartels 1, Cheryl Scacheri 2, Lashonda White 3, Peter C Scacheri 1,, Sherri Bale 3,
PMCID: PMC3001831  PMID: 21158681

Abstract

CHARGE syndrome is an autosomal dominant multisystem disorder caused by mutation in the CHD7 gene, encoding chromodomain helicase DNA-binding protein 7. Molecular diagnostic testing for CHD7 mutation has been available in a clinical setting since 2005. We report here the results from the first 642 unrelated proband samples submitted for testing. Thirty-two percent (n = 203) of patient samples had a heterozygous pathogenic variant identified. The lower mutation rate than that published for well-characterized clinical samples is likely due to referral bias, as samples submitted for clinical testing may be for “rule-out” diagnoses, rather than solely to confirm clinical suspicion. We identified 159 unique pathogenic mutations, and of these, 134 mutations were each seen in a single individual and 25 mutations were found in two to five individuals (n = 69). Of the 203 mutations, only 9 were missense, with 107 nonsense, 69 frameshift, and 15 splice-site mutations likely leading to haploinsufficiency at the cellular level. An additional 72 variations identified in the 642 tested samples (11%) were considered to have unknown clinical significance. Copy number changes (deletion/duplication of the entire gene or one/several exons) were found to account for a very small number of cases (n = 3). This cohort represents the largest CHARGE syndrome sample size to date and is intended to serve as a resource for clinicians, genetic counselors, researchers, and other diagnostic laboratories.

Introduction

CHARGE syndrome is an autosomal dominant condition characterized by a nonrandom cluster of congenital anomalies including coloboma of the eye, heart defects, choanal atresia, retarded growth, genital abnormalities, and inner and outer ear anomalies, as well as hyposmia and other cranial nerve abnormalities (Pagon et al., 1981; Blake et al., 1998). Numerous less-common features, including abnormal kidney, cleft lip/palate, and tracheoesophageal fistula, have also been reported. The clinical presentation of CHARGE syndrome can be highly variable (Zentner et al., 2010). Estimates of the incidence of CHARGE syndrome range from 1:8500 to 1:12,000 (Issekutz et al., 2005) (Kallen et al., 1999).

De novo mutations in the gene encoding chromodomain helicase DNA-binding protein 7 (CHD7) are the major cause of CHARGE syndrome (Vissers et al., 2004). DNA sequencing detects CHD7 mutations in ∼58%–64% of patients clinically diagnosed with CHARGE syndrome (Vissers et al., 2004; Jongmans et al., 2006; Lalani et al., 2006). Of the CHD7 mutations reported thus far, ∼70% are nonsense or frameshift, 6%–13% are missense, and 7%–15% are splice site mutations (Vissers et al., 2004; Felix et al., 2006; Jongmans et al., 2006; Lalani et al., 2006; Sanlaville et al., 2006; Aramaki et al., 2007; Vuorela et al., 2007; Asakura et al., 2008; Bergman et al., 2008; Gennery et al., 2008; Wincent et al., 2008). Partial and whole gene deletions or duplications are rare, accounting for 3%–4% of pathogenic CHD7 mutations (Aramaki et al., 2006; Vuorela et al., 2007; Bergman et al., 2008; Wincent et al., 2008). Although germline transmission of CHD7 mutation has been reported (Pauli et al., 2009), the majority of mutations arise de novo.

GeneDx is a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified commercial laboratory that specializes in genetic testing for over 250 rare genetic disorders. Clinical testing of the CHD7 gene at GeneDx has been available since 2005 and is performed on patient specimens using sequence analysis and, when indicated or desired, copy number analysis. The clinical utility of CHD7 gene analysis is to confirm a clinical diagnosis of CHARGE syndrome or to resolve a differential diagnosis that may include diseases with similar or overlapping clinical presentations, such as Kallmann syndrome, 22q11 deletion syndrome, VACTERL association, and retinoic embryopathy. In addition, patients presenting with one or two of the clinical features of CHARGE syndrome, such as coloboma or choanal atresia, may also be referred for CHD7 testing as these patients could have an unusual presentation of the disease.

Here we present the results of 642 unrelated patient samples submitted to GeneDx for CHD7 mutation analysis. Based on recommendations by the American College of Medical Genetics (Richards et al., 2008) for designating a variant as pathogenic, 203 of the 642 samples tested (32%) contained a variant in the CHD7 gene that was considered pathogenic. This differs from other reports in the literature of 58%–64% positive rate of CHD7 sequencing in CHARGE patients, reflecting the frequent lack of detailed clinical data provided with samples submitted to a clinical service laboratory. Twenty five of the 159 unique mutations (16%) were observed more than once, suggesting the presence of mutational hotspots within CHD7. We could not determine the clinical significance of additional 72 variants because of lack of available parental samples, clinical information, or functional data.

Methods

Criteria for diagnosis are defined by physicians and genetic counselors and are not provided to us. Genomic DNA was purified from buccal swabs or peripheral blood lymphocytes by standard methods. The protein-encoding exons of the CHD7 gene, exons 2–38, were amplified using oligonucleotide primers targeting intronic sequence flanking CHD7 exons under standard polymerase chain reaction conditions and sequenced bidirectionally by capillary sequencing on an ABI3730, using primers designed and optimized by the clinical laboratory. To help in identifying polymorphisms, synonymous and nonsynonymous variants were examined for conservation with the zebrafish CHD7-like protein (XP_697956). The zebrafish sequence was chosen for this purpose because it aligns well with the human sequence, yet it has more divergence from human CHD7 than other available sequences. Human and mouse CHD7 proteins are 97.1% identical, and human and chicken have 91.9% identity, whereas human and zebrafish CHD7s have 64.2% identity.

Testing for a CHD7 exon deletion or duplication is now performed by the laboratory upon request, using either multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) (SALSA MLPA kit P201-B1; MRC-Holland) or exon-level resolution oligonucleotide array comparative genomic hybridization (ExonArray). A proprietary CopyDx quantitative polymerase chain reaction method is used to confirm whole or partial gene deletions or duplications. We tested 11 samples by MLPA, 8 by exon array, and 4 by CopyDx after DNA sequencing showed no obvious disease-causing mutation and few or no heterozygous polymorphisms.

Results

Six hundred forty-two patients were referred by physicians and other authorized providers to GeneDx for clinical genetic testing of the CHD7 gene. For each specimen, the entire protein coding sequence of the CHD7 gene, along with intron sequence flanking each exon, was analyzed by DNA sequencing. Variants predicted to introduce premature stop codons or cause frameshifts were considered pathogenic. Variants involving the canonical splice donor–acceptor pair (GT-AG) were also considered pathogenic, in keeping with American College of Medical Genetics guidelines (Richards et al., 2008). Missense changes or other putative splicing changes were considered pathogenic if proven de novo by testing both parents for its absence, or if the change was identical to a previously reported de novo disease-associated mutation. Heterozygous polymorphisms were recorded to document the presence of two alleles.

We identified pathogenic CHD7 mutations in 203 (32%) patient samples. Two hundred of 203 mutations involved small, mostly single base changes, which were detected by DNA sequencing. These include 107 nonsense mutations, 69 frameshift mutations, 15 splicing mutations, and 9 missense mutations (Table 1 and Table 2). One nonsense mutation was identified in the blood sample from a parent who was presumed to be mosaic. Two of the nine mutations classified as missense are located in the last bases of exons 8 and 17. These two mutations could affect splicing, as mutations at the end of exons are reported to inhibit the ability of the exon to be recognized by splicing factors (Talerico and Berget, 1990). We observed 25 different mutations more than once, including 7 not previously reported (Vissers et al., 2004; Felix et al., 2006; Jongmans et al., 2006; Lalani et al., 2006; Writzl et al., 2007; Gennery et al., 2008) (Table 2). Of these 25 mutations, 20 are nonsense, 3 are frameshift, and 2 are missense. The mutations we have identified are distributed throughout the coding region and do not appear to be preferentially located within regions corresponding to functional domains. The locations of the single-base mutations in the CHD7 gene and corresponding protein are shown in Figure 1.

Table 1.

Summary of Results for 642 DNA Samples Analyzed

Samples 642
No disease-causing mutation identified by DNA sequencing 401
 No heterozygous polymorphism 76 → one whole gene deletion
one exon 2 deletion
one exon 3 duplication
 With heterozygous polymorphisms 325
Disease-causing mutation identified by DNA sequencing 200; 156 unique
 Nonsense mutations  107; 68 unique
 Frameshift mutations  69; 66 unique
 Splicing mutations  15; all unique
 Missense mutations  9; 7 unique
Mutations of undetermined clinical significance 72
 Missense (nonsynonymous)  36 (excluding 3 putative splice variants); 33 unique
 Inframe residue insertion/deletion  3; all unique
 Potential splice:  
  Intronic  17; 9 unique
  Exonic, nonsynonymous  3; all unique
  Exonic, synonymous  13; all unique

Table 2.

CHARGE-Causing Mutations Identified

Accession no. Type DNA mutationa Protein mutation Parental testing Previously reported
052044 f c.191_194delCAAA p.T64fsX65    
063616 x c.253C>T p.Q85X    
073716 f c.285delG p.G95fsX210    
801921 x c.334C>T p.Q112X   4
808037 x c.435G>A p.W145X   4
060362 x c.469C>T p.R157X   1, 3, inherited in 7
900517 x c.469C>T p.R157X   1, 3, inherited in 7
051962 x c.502C>T p.Q168X    
076598 x c.511C>T p.Q171X    
062461 x c.562C>T p.Q188X    
807028 x c.601C>T p.Q201X    
054032 f c.729delC p.P243fsX304 De novo  
060395 f c.780delC p.P260fsX304    
808774 f c.780delC p.P260fsX304    
076601 f c.865delA p.T289fsX304    
062556 x c.889C>T p.Q297X    
051582 f c.900dupC p.S301fsX317    
071214 x c.934C>T p.R312X De novo 9
074583 x c.934C>T p.R312X   9
804090 x c.934C>T p.R312X   9
806016 x c.934C>T p.R312X   9
808274 x c.934C>T p.R312X   9
801830 x c.939T>G p.Y313X    
053758 x c.1024C>T p.Q342X    
805081 f c.1079_1095del17 p.G360fsX368    
060959 f c.1095_1096insTC p.P366fsX377   De novo in 4
903850 f c.1140_1143dupTATG p.H382fsX405    
801859 x c.1153C>T p.Q385X    
074683 f c.1310dupA p.H437fsX574 One parent excluded  
060219 x c.1312C>T p.Q438X    
802161 f c.1319delC p.P440fsX462    
077524 x c.1366C>T p.Q456X    
902216 x c.1366C>T p.Q456X    
052350 f c.1374_1375delTC p.S458fsX573    
051457 x c.1480C>T p.R494X   De novo in 4 and 11
061371 x c.1480C>T p.R494X   De novo in 4 and 11
074832 x c.1480C>T p.R494X   De novo in 4 and 11
803442 x c.1480C>T p.R494X   De novo in 4 and 11
902758 x c.1480C>T p.R494X   De novo in 4 and 11
812180 f c.1488dupA p.P497fsX574    
808384 x c.1510C>T p.Q504X    
802325 f c.1544delC p.P515fsX563    
811230 x c.1576C>T p.Q526X    
802993 f c.1610_1611insA p.W537fsX537    
061801 f c.1689dupA p.E564fsX574    
811915 f c.1730dupA p.N577fsX584    
076142 f c.1818_1819insAT p.V607fsX608    
075651 f c.1925delA p.K642fsX710    
065234 f c.2034delA p.K678fsX710    
807136 s c.2096+2T>C IVS3+2T>C One parent excluded  
053440 f c.2180delT p.L727fsX727    
070341 f c.2244_2245delAC p.R748fsX760    
061959 x c.2311G>T p.E771X    
051768 x c.2440C>T p.Q814X De novo  
062375 s c.2443-1delG IVS6-1delG    
060118 s c.2498+2dupT IVS7+2dupT De novo  
062315 f c.2504_2508delATCTT p.Y835fsX848   3
800824 f c.2504_2508delATCTT p.Y835fsX848   3
076679 f c.2509_2512delCATT p.H837fsX842    
802426 f c.2509_2512delCATT p.H837fsX842    
061328 x c.2572C>T p.R858X   De novo in 3
074555 x c.2572C>T p.R858X   De novo in 3
801724 x c.2572C>T p.R858X   De novo in 3
806103 x c.2572C>T p.R858X   De novo in 3
070890 m/s c.2613G>T p.E871Db De novo  
062987 s c.2697+2T>G IVS9+2T>G One parent excluded  
071276 f c.2737_2738insTC p.Y913fsX925    
800699 x c.2753G>A p.W918X De novo  
070907 x c.2839C>T p.R947X   2, de novo in 11
801407 x c.2858G>A p.W953X    
065597 f c.2905_2906delAG p.R969fsX993    
052425 s c.2957+2T>G IVS11+2T>G    
060339 x c.2959C>T p.R987X   3, de novo in 5
070946 x c.2959C>T p.R987X   3, de novo in 5
800117 x c.2959C>T p.R987X   3, de novo in 5
806836 x c.2959C>T p.R987X   3, de novo in 5
810347 x c.2959C>T p.R987X   3, de novo in 5
073135 m c.3005C>T p.Q1002Rb De novo  
064779 m c.3082A>G p.I1028Vb   De novo in 1, 3, and 8
077115 m c.3082A>G p.I1028Vb De novo De novo in 1, 3, and 8
064695 x c.3106C>T p.R1036X   2, 3
071885 x c.3106C>T p.R1036X   2, 3
075224 x c.3106C>T p.R1036X   2, 3
804863 x c.3106C>T p.R1036X   2, 3
903061 x c.3106C>T p.R1036X   2, 3
811229 f c.3122dupT p.L1041fsX1052    
061125 x c.3205C>T p.R1069X   12, de novo in 4 and 8
076312 f c.3572_3573delAA p.K1191fsX1206    
054292 f c.3617_3619delTTGinsAATA p.I1206fsX1207    
902200 x c.3646A>T p.K1216X    
903124 x c.3646A>T p.K1216X    
800035 x c.3655C>T p.R1219X   3, 9
805981 f c.3693delA p.K1231fsX1242    
054177 f c.3728dupA p.N1243fsX1262    
064752 x c.3768C>G p.Y1256X De novo  
065763 s c.3779-2A>G IVS15-2A>G   3
071881 x c.3802G>T p.E1268X    
053821 f c.3806_3811delTTAAAGinsA p.F1269fsX1269    
053162 m c.3881T>C p.L1294Pb   De novo in 4
807908 s c.3989+1G>A IVS16+1G>A    
061708 s c.3990-2A>G IVS16-2A>G    
063439 f c.4012_4013delGG p.G1338fsX1355    
077569 x c.4015C>T p.R1339X   2, 3, 11, de novo in 4
808924 x c.4015C>T p.R1339X   2, 3, 11, de novo in 4
052094 f c.4138dupA p.T1380fsX1385   8
078276 x c.4164G>A p.W1388X De novo  
052779 f c.4183delC p.Q1395fsX1403    
061322 m/s c.4185G>C p.Q1395Hb De novo De novo in 8
073529 s c.4186-1G>A IVS17-1G>A    
051749 f c.4203_4204delTA p.H1401fsX1420    
053271 x c.4318C>T p.Q1440X    
063442 x c.4393C>T p.R1465X De novo 4
074759 x c.4393C>T p.R1465X   4
806837 x c.4393C>T p.R1465X   4
060639 x c.4441A>T p.K1481X    
074907 x c.4480C>T p.R1494X   2, 13
802505 s c.4533+1G>A IVS19+1G>A    
801879 x c.4593G>A p.W1531X    
062503 x c.4601G>A p.W1534X   12, de novo in 4
052966 f c.4634delT p.L1545fsX1545    
903559 x c.4753G>T p.E1585X    
062946 x c.4795C>T p.Q1599X   Inherited in 8
061334 x c.4853G>A p.W1618X    
077838 x c.5029C>T p.R1677X De novo  
061465 x c.5029C>T p.R1677X    
065687 s c.5050+1G>A IVS22+1G>A    
806781 f c.5054delT p.L1685fsX1698    
806158 f c.5086_5093delAAGAAGGT p.K1696fsX1733    
053905 f c.5094dupG p.K1699fsX1736    
807855 x c.5101C>T p.Q1701X    
064486 x c.5122C>T p.Q1708X    
063670 f c.5138_5141delTGGC p.L1713fsX1730    
053226 f c.5138_5141delTGGC c.5147_5148insGCCAGCTG p.L1713fsX1737 De novo  
807173 f c.5178_5179dupCT p.Y1727fsX1732    
076269 m c.5216T>G p.L1739Rb De novo  
053286 x c.5245A>T p.R1749X    
063510 f c.5250delA p.Q1750fsX1752    
054190 x c.5428C>T p.R1810X   De novo in 4 and 11
902215 x c.5428C>T p.R1810X   De novo in 4 and 11
060225 s c.5534+1G>A IVS26+1G>A   De novo in 3 and 4
902057 f c.5574delA p.K1858fsX1868    
064246 f c.5588delC p.P1863fsX1868    
807509 s c.5666-2A>C IVS28-2A>C    
070476 f c.5776delA p.R1926fsX1929    
807429 x c.5782C>T p.Q1928X    
052662 x c.5791C>T p.Q1931X De novo  
052314 x c.5833C>T p.R1945X One parent excluded 4, de novo in 3
054428 x c.5833C>T p.R1945X   4, de novo in 3
800825 f c.5960_5963delCTGT p.P1987fsX2041    
062684 f c.6018delA p.K2006fsX2042    
804799 x c.6070C>T p.R2024X   1, 3, de novo in 4
802868 x c.6070C>T p.R2024X   1, 3, de novo in 4
064618 x c.6079C>T p.R2027X   De novo in 3
060386 s c.6103+8T>C IVS30+8T>C   De novo in 4
808893 x c.6157C>T p.R2053X   3, 5, de novo in 4
806949 x c.6272G>A p.W2091X    
062558 x c.6292C>T p.R2098X   10
800374 x c.6292C>T p.R2098X   10
062120 f c.6320_6321delAC p.H2107fsX2118    
053898 m c.6347T>A p.I2116Nb One parent excluded  
801826 m c.6347T>A p.I2116Nb De novo  
075271 x c.6397C>T p.Q2133X    
064459 f c.6461delC p.P2154fsX2214    
902770 f c.6502delC p.L2168fsX2214    
061870 f c.6587_6589delCCGinsTA p.T2196fsX2214    
053153 f c.6746delA p.D2249fsX2276 De novo  
803104 x c.6757G>T p.E2253X    
042727 s c.6775+1G>A IVS31+1G>A    
062825 x c.6850C>T p.R2284X   De novo in 6 and 8
077988 x c.6850C>T p.R2284X   De novo in 6 and 8
805191 x c.6850C>T p.R2284X   De novo in 6 and 8
074324 f c.7027delC p.Q2343fsX2442    
05865 x c.7132G>T p.E2378X De novo  
052445 x c.7195C>T p.Q2399X    
061695 f c.7249delA p.R2417fsX2442    
061278 x c.7252C>T p.R2418X De novo 3
902420 x c.7252C>T p.R2418X   3
076853 x c.7282C>T p.R2428X   3
809472 x c.7282C>T p.R2428X   3
063341 f c.7328delA p.D2443fsX2502    
075614 x c.7367C>G p.S2456X   13
060501 f c.7418_7427del10 p.P2473fsX2499    
062920 x c.7447G>T p.E2483X    
062147 x c.7636G>T p.E2546X Father mosaic 13
051996 f c.7782delG p.W2594fsX2595 De novo  
076047 f c.7875_7876delGA p.Q2625fsX2628    
062087 x c.7879C>T p.R2627X   3
064661 x c.7879C>T p.R2627X One parent excluded 3
054199 x c.7891C>T p.R2631X    
060051 x c.7891C>T p.R2631X    
070279 x c.7891C>T p.R2631X    
800072 x c.7891C>T p.R2631X    
811668 x c.7891C>T p.R2631X    
065478 f c.7919_7926delCTTTGACA p.T2640fsX2649    
806062 f c.7921_7922delTT p.L2641fsX2651    
065062 x c.8054G>A p.W2685X De novo  
061050 f c.8078delG p.G2693fsX2708 De novo  
077711 f c.8452_8459dupAACCCTCT p.L2820fsX2891    
062355 f c.8565delA p.K2855fsX2888    
05885 f c.8962dupG p.D2988fsX2989 De novo De novo in 8
077415 del delEX2_38 Whole gene deletion   1, 11
063780 del delEX2 Exon 2 dele    
807132 dup dupEX3 Exon 3 dup    
a

Mutated bases in the human CHD7 cDNA were numbered based on accession number NM_017780. Gene and protein nomenclature follows recommendations (den Dunnen and Antonarakis, 2001). Bold font indicates recurrent mutations.

b

Conserved in zebrafish

CHD7 protein.

1Vissers et al. (2004).

2Aramaki et al. (2006).

3Jongmans et al. (2006).

4Lalani et al. (2006).

5Sanlaville et al. (2006).

6Felix et al. (2006).

7Delahaye et al. (2007).

8Vuorela et al. (2007).

9Writzl et al. (2007).

10Gennery et al. (2008).

11Wincent et al. (2008).

12Lee et al. (2009).

13Asakura et al. (2008); Fujita et al. (2009).

x = premature stop codon; f = frameshift mutation; s = splice site mutation; m = missense mutation; del = deletion; dup = duplication; ins = insertion.

FIG. 1.

FIG. 1.

The CHD7 gene (top) and protein (bottom). Colored circles above exons 2–38 depict the location of 200 CHARGE-causing mutations. Overlapping circles indicate identical mutations. Protein domains are labeled and lines indicate where each protein domain is encoded on the gene. All DNA mutations that introduced stop codons or frameshifts were considered disease causing, as were mutations of the canonical splice donor–acceptor pair (GT-AG). Missense changes or other putative splicing changes were not considered disease causing unless the change was a de novo mutation not found in either parent or if it was reported in the literature as a de novo mutation.

Twenty-three specimens were further analyzed for copy number changes, using MLPA, CopyDx, or exon-level CGHarray. Of these cases, one duplication of exon 3, one whole gene deletion, and one deletion of exon 2 were identified.

A number of variants were identified in patient specimens that were novel or eluded classification (Table 3a). In most cases (n = 54) this is due to the lack of available parent samples. Such results are reported as being variants of unknown significance in patient reports. In another 18 cases, where we were able to test one or both parents, the variant was observed in a parent. However, without further information, these missense changes are difficult to classify. Germline transmission has been reported and may be due to germline mosaicism, somatic mosaicism, or inheritance of the mutation from a mildly affected parent. When inheritance of a novel missense change is observed in a molecular diagnostic setting, it is difficult to know if the parent is mosaic for a pathogenic mutation or if the variant is a benign polymorphism (Zlotogora, 1998). In these cases, clinical evaluation of the parent is recommended to the referring physician.

Table 3.

Sequence Variations with Unknown Significance

a. Rare missense variations, residue insertion/deletions, and variations that are silent coding changes or intron changes close to exon/intron junctions and have the potential to be splicing mutations
Accession no. DNA mutation Protein variation Previously published Situation Parent Conservationa
902591 c.123G>A p.M41I       Yes
076175 c.257C>G p.P86R     Identified in 1 parent No (Q)
62883 c.561G>A p.Q187Q       Similar (H, cac)
053498 c.712G>A p.V238M   With G744S and A2160T   No (P)
53964 c.1029C>T p.S343S       Similar (N)
074161 c.1122_1133dup12 p.N377_T378ins PNEH       Yes
5828 c.1672C>G p.P558A   7 bp from junction   Yes
811103 c.1677G>A p.S559S     Identified in 1 parent No (P)
053117 c.2096G>C p.S699T 1 bp from junction, putative splice Yes
806511 c.2097-5delT IVS3-5delT   5 bp from junction   No
800842 c.2182G>A p.D728N       Similar (E)
65571 c.2196A>G p.P732P       Yes
62573 c.2498+6T>G IVS7+6T>G   6 bp from junction   Yes
072511 c.2499-3C>G IVS7-3C>G   3 bp from junction   Yes
065403 c.2680A>G p.T894A   In chromodomain Identified in 1 parent Yes
061052 c.2720A>C p.K907T   In chromodomain   Yes
063067 c.2750C>T p.T917M   In chromodomain Identified in 1 parent Yes
903397 c.2813G>A p.R938K       Yes
072071 c.2831G>A p.R944H   5 bp from junction Identified in 1 parent Yes
053964 c.2840G>A p.R947Q   5 bp from junction Identified in 1 parent Yes
71691 c.3202-5T>C IVS12-5T>C   5 bp from junction   Yes
802765 c.3202-5T>C IVS12-5T>C   5 bp from junction   Yes
801050 c.3378+5G>T IVS13+5G>T   5 bp from junction   Yes
801088 c.3378+5G>T IVS13+5G>T   5 bp from junction   Yes
051914 c.3607G>C p.E1203Q   In SNF2-N domain   Yes
903485 c.3623T>A p.V1208D   In SNF2-N domain   Yes
802422 c.3942G>A p.Q1314Q       Yes
072739 c.3965T>C p.L1322P   In HeLICc domain   Yes
65403 c.3989C>G p.R1330R 2 bp from junction, putative splice Yes
065012 c.4033C>T p.R1345C   In HeLICc domain Identified in 1 parent Yes
807330 c.4247C>G p.T1416R       Yes
811007 c.4369A>C p.K1457Q   With V2931M Identified in 1 parent Yes
072994 c.4727T>G p.F1576C       Similar (Y)
800514 c.4849G>A p.G1617S 2 bp from junction, putative splice Yes
060081 c.5050G>A p.G1684S 13 1 bp from junction, putative splice Yes
063000 c.5373C>A p.D1791E     identified in 1 parent Yes
070154 c.5405-7G>A IVS25-7G>A 2, 3 7 bp from junction, putative splice No
072674 c.5405-7G>A IVS25-7G>A 2, 3 7 bp from junction, putative splice No
075645 c.5405-7G>A IVS25-7G>A 2, 3 7 bp from junction, putative splice No
808268 c.5405-7G>A IVS25-7G>A 2, 3 7 bp from junction, putative splice No
810826 c.5405-7G>A IVS25-7G>A 2, 3 7 bp from junction, putative splice No
074838 c.5597A>G p.D1866G   11 bp from junction   Yes
053177 c.5597A>G p.D1866G   11 bp from junction   Yes
64239 c.5841A>G p.E1947E       Similar (D)
053492 c.5848G>A p.A1950T     Identified in 1 parent Yes
064827 c.5894+5G>A IVS29+5G>A   5 bp from junction   Yes
805662 c.5905_5907del
AGA
p.R1969del   11 bp from junction Identified in 1 parent Yes
054355 c.6103+5G>T IVS30+5G>T   5 bp from junction   No
806941 c.6194G>A p.R2065H       Yes
903222 c.6194G>A p.R2065H     Identified in 1 parent Yes
811609 c.6250A>G p.S2084G       Yes
810303 c.6308G>A p.G2103D       Yes
064850 c.6308G>A p.G2103D       Yes
052986 c.6339T>C p.D2113D       Yes
051356 c.6363G>A p.E2121E       Yes
804307 c.6673G>A p.A2225T       No (L)
62708 c.6936G>A p.K2312K 1 bp from junction, putative splice Yes
805742 c.6955C>T p.R2319C 3, 6, 14   Identified in parent and sibling Yes
077040 c.6989G>C p.G2330A       Yes
61994 c.7158G>A p.L2386L   7 bp from junction   Similar (V)
054238 c.7165-4A>G IVS33-4A>G 3 4 bp from junction   No
051771 c.7165-4A>G IVS33-4A>G   4 bp from junction   No
05828 c.7165-4A>G IVS33-4A>G   4 bp from junction   No
054005 c.7485G>T p.R2495S     Identified in 1 parent No (−)
051390 c.7578C>T p.S2528S       No (G)
071896 c.8047C>T p.P2683S   In BRK domain Identified in 1 parent Yes
070710 c.8104C>T p.R2702C     Identified in 1 parent Yes
901480 c.8197G>A p.A2733T       Yes
052878 c.8569T>G p.S2857A       Yes
800917 c.8874C>T p.A2958A       Similar (S)
811007 c.8791G>A p.V2931M   With K1457Q Identified in 1 parent Yes
808890 c.8879_8881dup AGA p.E2960_S2961insK     Identified in 1 parent Yes
b. 32 sequence variations identified as polymorphisms
Accession no. DNA mutation Protein variation Previously published Situation Parental testing Zebrafish conservationa n SNP ID no.
62599 c.216T>C p.Y72Y       Similar (F) 5 rs16926453
070640 c.307T>A p.S103T 11 (4/180 controls)     Yes 6 rs41272435
53498 c.309G>A p.S103S       Yes 3  
05913 c.602A>G p.Q201R     Identified in 1 parent Yes 4  
53498 c.657C>T p.G219G       No (−) 5  
053103 c.1018A>G p.M340V 8   1 No (S) 6 rs41305525
803481 c.1105C>G p.P369A     In parent and 2 relatives No (−) 1  
05885 c.1397C>T p.S466L 6   1 No (P) 1 rs71640285
053015 c.1536A>G p.P512P       Yes 3  
902192 c.1565G>T p.G522V 6 Homozygous   No (A) 1  
62147 c.1907G>T p.G636V   With E2546X   No (I) 1  
078278 c.2053_58 dupGAAAA p.A685_K686dup 11 (3/80 controls)   Identified in 1 parent Yes 6+  
53498 c.2124T>C p.S708S       No (G) 6  
053498 c.2230G>A p.G744S 8, 11 1 with V238M and A2160T   Yes 3  
77306 c.2361C>A p.S787S       No (−) 3  
060685 c.3379-33A>G IVS13-33A>G   33 bp from junction   No 1 rs45461501
60036 c.5051-4C>T IVS22-4C>T       No 6+ rs71640288
51581 c.5307C>T p.A1769A   7 bp from junction   No (L) 6+ rs16926499
060386 c.6103+8T>C IVS30+8T>C 4     Yes 6+ rs3763592
52986 c.6111C>T p.P2037P   8 bp from junction   Yes 3 rs41312170
062383 c.6135G>A p.P2045P       Yes 6+ rs6999971
052668 c.6276G>A p.E2092E 4     Yes 6+ rs2068096
60685 c.6282A>G p.G2094G       Yes 6 rs41312172
053498 c.6478G>A p.A2160T 8, 11 1 with V238M and G744S   No (−) 2 rs61753399
71954 c.6738G>A p.E2246E 8, 11     Similar (D) 3 rs61729627
804229 c.6833T>C p.A2274A       Yes 1 rs61743849
053179 c.7356A>G p.T2452T 4     Similar (S) 6+ rs2272727
061251 c.7579A>C p.M2527L     Identified in 1 parent Yes 5  
53498 c.7590A>G p.K2530K       Yes 3 rs61742801
53162 c.8355C>T p.A2785A   With L1294P   No (G) 1  
070556 c.8416C>G p.L2806V 8, 11   Identified in 1 parent Yes 2 rs45521933
061484 c.8950C>T p.L2984F     Identified in 1 parent Similar (M) 3  

The inherited/de novo status of most is unknown unless otherwise indicated.

a

Conservation with zebrafish CHD7 protein is noted for coding mutations. Conservation with zebrafish CHD7 DNA sequence is noted for possible splice variations.

1Vissers et al. (2004).

2Aramaki et al. (2006).

3Jongmans et al. (2006).

4Lalani et al. (2006).

5Sanlaville et al. (2006).

6Felix et al. (2006).

7Delahaye et al. (2007).

8Vuorela et al. (2007).

9Writzl et al. (2007).

10Gennery et al. (2008).

11Wincent et al. (2008).

12Lee et al. (2009).

13Asakura et al. (2008); Fujita et al. (2009).

14Holak et al. (2008).

Blue-shaded rows: five mutations are 1–2 bp from an intron and we believe these to be splicing mutations. The IVS25-7G>A mutation, in five additional samples, has been previously reported but has not yet been identified as a de novo mutation.

Blues boxes: algorithm-predicted splice site mutations.

Green boxes: missense mutations.

Gray boxes: deletion, duplication, insertion mutations.

Bold font indicates recurrent mutations.

Twenty-two variants that may affect splicing were identified based on prediction algorithms such as SIFT (Lowe, 2004) and PolyPhen (Ramensky et al., 2002). Two of these were synonymous changes that could affect splicing, as has been observed in other diseases (Eriksson et al., 2003). Table 3a includes nonsynonymous missense variants that are presumed to be very rare, as they have been observed only once or twice in the 1284 alleles we have tested and were not found in the SNP databases. Without further information, we cannot determine the pathogenicity of these variants.

Table 3b lists variants characterized as benign polymorphisms. Twenty-nine polymorphisms were found in multiple individuals in this report or in previous reports, two were found in individuals also carrying disease-causing mutations, and one was homozygous.

A total of 370 specimens had no detectible mutations by sequencing, and we were able to test only 23 specimens for exonic copy number changes. It is not unusual to observe several polymorphisms in the CHD7 gene, and the observation of heterozygous positions ensures the presence of both alleles. In our negative samples, 76 altogether lacked heterozygous polymorphisms and another 88 specimens had only one to two polymorphisms. Although copy number changes are not common in the CHD7 gene, these samples (26% of all samples submitted) may be good candidates for deletion and duplication testing using other methods for detection.

Discussion

This report serves as a summary of the findings of CHD7 mutation analysis observed by one clinical diagnostic laboratory. Unlike other publications, we have not performed clinical evaluations on the patients in whom the analyses were performed, and these data must be regarded with that in mind.

We detected CHD7 mutations in 203 of 642 (∼32%) patient specimens referred to GeneDx for clinical testing. One hundred twenty of the 203 CHD7 mutations have not been previously reported. Consistent with previous reports, most of the mutations we detected are nonsense (n = 107; 52.7%) and frameshift (n = 69; 34%) mutations and are predicted to cause loss of function. Splicing (n = 15; 7.4%), missense (n = 9; 4.4%), and copy number changes (n = 3; 1.5%) are less common. There is a higher percentage of stop codons in our cohort than in the published literature (52.7% vs. 35.4%). Of 189 published mutations, there were 35.4% stop mutations, 33.3% frameshifts, 7%–15% splicing mutations, 6%–13% missense mutations, and 3% large deletion/duplications (Vissers et al., 2004; Felix et al., 2006; Jongmans et al., 2006; Lalani et al., 2006; Sanlaville et al., 2006; Aramaki et al., 2007; Vuorela et al., 2007; Asakura et al., 2008; Bergman et al., 2008; Gennery et al., 2008; Wincent et al., 2008).

Variants found in 11% (n = 72) of our 642 patient samples could not be classified as either pathogenic or benign, which clearly underscores the need for a functional assay, or at least the availability of parental samples for follow-up. The observation of mutations in 32% of the specimens evaluated is far lower than the 58%–64% reported by other groups. This reflects the variability in clinicians' use of molecular diagnostic testing, including the fact that many clinicians are considering a number of diagnoses in the differential when faced with a child who has some findings indicative of CHARGE syndrome.

Notably, there are 25 different mutations that have been observed more than once in our cohort. Six of these recurrent mutations were observed in four or more patient specimens. Each of these is a nonsense change involving a CGA arginine codon (R312X, R494X, R858X, R987X, R1036X, R2631X). This is consistent with reports that the CG dinucleotide is hypermutable to TG (Youssoufian et al., 1988; Antonarakis et al., 2000), making the arginine CGA codon uniquely vulnerable to transition to a nonsense mutation. Human CHD7 contains 27 arginine CGA codons. Despite these mutation hot spots, this should not influence how CHD7 mutation analysis is performed, given that overall these account for only a fraction (14.2%) of the total observed mutations.

In our study, we tested the DNA samples of both parents for the presence of a variant identified in their child in 25 families. This included testing for 12 nonsense, 6 frameshift, 6 missense, and 1 splice site mutation. Of these, only one mutation was identified in a parent and all other mutations had arisen de novo. Mosaicism for a p.E2546X nonsense mutation was observed in this individual's specimen. Sixteen cases of germline transmission of CHD7 mutation have been reported (Jongmans et al., 2006; Lalani et al., 2006; Delahaye et al., 2007; Jongmans et al., 2008; Vuorela et al., 2008; Wincent et al., 2008; Pauli et al., 2009). Some of these cases involve an affected or mildly affected parent, whereas in other cases the carrier parent is reported as unaffected. Two affected siblings have been reported in a family where the father had no detectable CHD7 gene mutation in lymphocyte DNA, but showed a mutation in ¼ of his sperm (Pauli et al., 2009).

The CHD7 gene is large at over 188 kb. Most laboratories seek mutations in the ∼9 kb that constitute the protein coding sequence and intron–exon junctions. As with most diagnostic tests, mutation analysis does not include the promoter, noncoding exons, or introns. Future full-gene sequencing using “next-generation” methods may increase the clinical sensitivity of diagnostic testing of CHARGE syndrome, revealing mutation deep in introns and promoter regions in other patients who carry a clinical diagnosis but are mutation negative using current methods.

Acknowledgments

P.C.S. is supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (R01HD056369) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (R01HG004722).

Disclosure Statement

C.S. is currently an employee of Medco Health Solutions, Inc. Her contributions to this document are not to be construed as reflecting the views of Medco Health Solutions, Inc.

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