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A pathogenic in-frame deletion-insertion variant in BEST1 phenocopies Stargardt disease
Masha Kolesnikova, Jin Kyun Oh, Jiali Wang, Winston Lee, Jana Zernant, Pei-Yin Su, Angela H. Kim, Laura A. Jenny, Tingting Yang, Rando Allikmets, Stephen H. Tsang
Masha Kolesnikova, Jin Kyun Oh, Jiali Wang, Winston Lee, Jana Zernant, Pei-Yin Su, Angela H. Kim, Laura A. Jenny, Tingting Yang, Rando Allikmets, Stephen H. Tsang
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Research Article Genetics Ophthalmology

A pathogenic in-frame deletion-insertion variant in BEST1 phenocopies Stargardt disease

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Abstract

Here, we describe affected members of a 2-generation family with a Stargardt disease–like phenotype caused by a 2–base pair deletion insertion, c.1014_1015delGAinsCT;p.(Trp338_Asn339delinsCysTyr), in BEST1. The variant was identified by whole-exome sequencing, and its pathogenicity was verified through chloride channel recording using WT and transfected mutant HEK293 cells. Clinical examination of both patients revealed similar phenotypes at 2 different disease stages that were attributable to differences in their age at presentation. Hyperautofluorescent flecks along the arcades were observed in the proband, while the affected mother exhibited more advanced retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) loss in the central macula. Full-field electroretinogram testing was unremarkable in the daughter; however, moderate attenuation of generalized cone function was detected in the mother. Results from electrooculogram testing in the daughter were consistent with widespread dysfunction of the RPE characteristic of Best disease. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings revealed a statistically significant decrease in chloride conductance of the mutant compared with WT cells. This report on a mother and daughter with a BEST1 genotype that phenocopies Stargardt disease broadens the clinical spectrum of BEST1-associated retinopathy.

Authors

Masha Kolesnikova, Jin Kyun Oh, Jiali Wang, Winston Lee, Jana Zernant, Pei-Yin Su, Angela H. Kim, Laura A. Jenny, Tingting Yang, Rando Allikmets, Stephen H. Tsang

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Figure 1

Yellow pisciform flecks in a mother and daughter with an in-frame deletion-insertion variant in BEST1, as seen using fundus photography and spectral-domain optical coherence imaging.

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Yellow pisciform flecks in a mother and daughter with an in-frame deleti...
(A) Color fundus image of the left eye of a 37-year-old woman, showing central hyperpigmentation in the fovea and yellow pisciform flecks along the arcades with sparing of the central fovea. (B) Short-wave fundus autofluorescence (SW-FAF) imaging of the left eye, demonstrating a similar pattern of hyperautofluorescent flecks along the arcades, extending centrally toward the macula as well as several hypoautofluorescent lesions surrounding the fovea bilaterally. (C and D) Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) imaging, showing parafoveal retinal thinning of the outer nuclear layers and attenuation of the ellipsoid zone. (E) Color fundus image of the left eye of the 69-year-old mother of the person in A, showing substantial bilateral retinal pigment epithelium loss in the central macula up to the arcades and relative peripapillary sparing. (F) SW-FAF imaging of the left eye, revealing extensive macular atrophy with a surrounding pattern of fleck extending into the periphery. (G and H) SD-OCT imaging, showing extensive loss of retinal architecture and extensive retinal atrophy with hypertransmission into the choroid.

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ISSN 2379-3708

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