Flexi-Myo Panel Strategy: Genomic Diagnoses of Myopathies and Muscular Dystrophies by Next-Generation Sequencing

Muscle disorders are clinically and genetically heterogeneous. Investigations, including plasma creatine kinase, electromyography, and nerve conduction velocity studies are often nonspecific, whereas muscle biopsy might be limited by sampling bias and variable histopathology. Next-generation sequencing is now generally considered an important diagnostic tool for muscle disorders, with decreased costs and improved diagnostic yield. Inclusion of a large number of genes in the analysis might, however, generate a large number of ambiguous results and create unnecessary confusion for clinicians and patients. An ethnic Chinese patient presented at age 10 with tip-toe walking. Upon examination the patient had a waddling gait, a tight Achilles tendon with pes cavus. A muscle biopsy showed the presence of minicores with disruption of the myofibrillary network and Z-bands. Sequencing was performed using the Flexi-Myo panel, which provides coverage for 85 myopathic genes. Reporting of sequencing results was decided by the responsible chemical pathologists based on the available clinical and genetic information. A previously identified heterozygous in-frame deletion was detected in MYH7, which confirmed the diagnosis of Laing myopathy. No variants of uncertain significance required reporting. We describe the effectiveness of our Flexi-Myo panel approach for the diagnosis of muscle disorders, which confirmed diagnosis of Laing myopathy in what had been a clinically ambiguous presentation. This approach enables efficient genomic testing for muscle diseases in adults and children with satisfactory diagnostic yield and sufficient sensitivity, whereas avoiding the reporting of ambiguous results. Similar strategies might also be implemented for other groups of disorders.