Splice-altering variant in COL11A1 as a cause of nonsyndromic hearing loss DFNA37.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the genetic cause of autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hearing loss segregating in a multigenerational family.

Methods: Clinical examination, genome-wide linkage analysis, and exome sequencing were carried out on the family.

Results: Affected individuals presented with early-onset progressive mild hearing impairment with a fairly flat, gently downsloping or U-shaped audiogram configuration.

A combination of two truncating mutations in USH2A causes more severe and progressive hearing impairment in Usher syndrome type IIa.

Objectives: Usher syndrome is an inherited disorder that is characterized by hearing impairment (HI), retinitis pigmentosa, and in some cases vestibular dysfunction. Usher syndrome type IIa is caused by mutations in USH2A. HI in these patients is highly heterogeneous and the present study evaluates the effects of different types of USH2A mutations on the audiometric phenotype.

HOMER2, a stereociliary scaffolding protein, is essential for normal hearing in humans and mice.

Hereditary hearing loss is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorder. More than 80 genes have been implicated to date, and with the advent of targeted genomic enrichment and massively parallel sequencing (TGE+MPS) the rate of novel deafness-gene identification has accelerated. Here we report a family segregating post-lingual progressive autosomal dominant non-syndromic hearing loss (ADNSHL).

Expressivity of hearing loss in cases with Usher syndrome type IIA.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the genotype/phenotype relationship between siblings with identical USH2A pathologic mutations and the consequent audiologic phenotypes, in particular degree of hearing loss (HL). Decade audiograms were also compared among two groups of affected subjects with different mutations of USH2A.

Design: DNA samples from patients with Usher syndrome type II were analysed.

Advancing genetic testing for deafness with genomic technology.

Background: Non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL) is the most common sensory impairment in humans. Until recently its extreme genetic heterogeneity precluded comprehensive genetic testing. Using a platform that couples targeted genomic enrichment (TGE) and massively parallel sequencing (MPS) to sequence all exons of all genes implicated in NSHL, we tested 100 persons with presumed genetic NSHL and in so doing established sequencing requirements for maximum sensitivity and defined MPS quality score metrics that obviate Sanger validation of variants.