Characterization of large deletions in the DHCR7 gene

Pathogenic variants in the DHCR7 gene cause Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS), a defect of cholesterol biosynthesis resulting in an autosomal recessive congenital metabolic malformation disorder. In approximately 4% of patients, the second mutation remains unidentified. In this study, 12 SLOS patients diagnosed clinically and/or by elevated 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC) have been investigated by customized multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) analysis, because only one DHCR7 sequence variant has been detected. Two unrelated patients of this cohort carry different large deletions in the DHCR7 gene. One patient showed a deletion of exons 3-6. The second patient has a deletion of exons 1 and 2 (non-coding) and lacks the major part of the promoter. These two patients show typical clinical and biochemical phenotypes of SLOS. Second disease-causing mutations are p.(Arg352Trp) and p.(Thr93Met), respectively. Deletion breakpoints were characterized successfully in both cases. Such large deletions are rare in the DHCR7 gene but will resolve some of the patients in whom a second mutation has not been detected.