Heterozygous TBX2 frameshift variants cause a novel syndromic hearing loss with incompletely penetrant nystagmus

A substantial fraction of hereditary hearing loss (HL) remains unexplained by known HL genes. Tbx2 is a developmental transcription factor critical for inner ear hair cell differentiation in mice, while its pathogenic role in genetic HL in humans has yet to be documented. Here, we identified heterozygous TBX2 frameshift variants that cause human HL, establishing a previously unrecognised genetic link.

Linkage analysis combined with whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was applied to identify the causative gene in two unrelated Chinese families with autosomal dominant progressive sensorineural HL (SNHL) accompanied by incomplete penetrance nystagmus. Functional evaluation of TBX2 variants was performed through protein expression, localisation and transcriptional activity analysis in vitro, phenotypic analysis and mechanism study in knockout and knock-in mice model in vivo.

Linkage analysis in Family 1 mapped SNHL to chr17q23.2 (maximum logarithm of odds=3.01), WGS identified two rare heterozygous TBX2 variants (c.977delA, p.Asp326Alafs*42 and c.987delC, p.Ala330Argfs*38) each segregating with the phenotype in a separate family. Affected individuals exhibited isolated auditory and oculomotor phenotypes, without additional syndromic features seen in previously described TBX2-associated disorders. In vitro assays demonstrated that the truncated TBX2 proteins maintained normal expression and nuclear localisation but exhibited 80% reduction in transcriptional activity. In vivo, heterozygous Tbx2 knockout mice (Tbx2^+/- ) developed progressive HL and transient postnatal misexpression of outer hair cell marker in inner hair cells, supporting haploinsufficiency as the pathogenic mechanism.

These findings establish TBX2 as a novel gene for syndromic HL, defining a new autosomal dominant disorder characterised by progressive HL with variable nystagmus. This discovery expands the spectrum of T-box transcription factor disorders and informs molecular diagnosis and genetic counselling in hereditary HL.