Moderate hearing loss and pseudodominant inheritance due to L90P/35delG mutations in the GJB2 (connexin 26) gene

Mutations in the GJB2 (connexin 26-Cx26) gene are responsible for 20-50% of cases with prelingual non-syndromic deafness in a large part of the world including Turkey. Although most of the cases with Cx26 deafness have a recessive mode of inheritance, a small group of families demonstrated dominant or pseudodominant inheritance. In this report we present a Turkish family in which the proband had congenital profound deafness and was found to be homozygous for the 35delG mutation, whereas the father and a paternal uncle who had milder, late-onset sensorineural hearing loss had compound heterozygous 35delG and L90P mutations. This family and previous reports with the L90P mutation demonstrate that the hearing loss associated with the L90P/35delG genotype is consistently milder than that of 35delG homozygotes. GJB2 gene screening should be considered in families with seemingly dominant inheritance and late-onset moderate hearing loss.