Horizontal gaze palsy with progressive scoliosis: three novel ROBO3 mutations and descriptions of the phenotypes of four patients.

Purpose: Clinical and molecular characterization of patients with horizontal gaze palsy with progressive scoliosis (HGPPS) to extend existing knowledge of the phenotype caused by mutations in the Roundabout homolog of Drosophila 3 (ROBO3) gene.

Methods: Four patients (aged 6 months to 13 years), two of them siblings, with features of horizontal gaze palsy and their parents were examined clinically and by molecular testing of the ROBO3 gene. The three families were unrelated, but parents in each family were consanguineous.

Results: We identified three novel homozygous ROBO3 mutations in four patients with typical ophthalmologic signs of HGPPS. We found an exonic insertion/deletion mutation (c.913delAinsTGC; p.Ile305CysfsX13), a 31 bp deletion including the donor splice site of exon 17 and adjacent exonic and intronic sequences (c.2769_2779del11, 2779+1_+20del20), and a missense mutation located next to a splice donor site (c.3319A>C) resulting in skipping of exon 22, as shown by cDNA analysis.

Conclusions: We describe three novel mutations in the ROBO3 gene and the detailed clinical phenotype of HGPPS. One patient displayed marked convergence upon attempting smooth pursuits to both sides. In one patient, the typical ophthalmologic phenotype, the neuroradiologic findings, and molecular testing led to the diagnosis even before scoliosis developed. In addition to the typical magnetic resonance imaging brain signs of HGPPS, this patient had marked hypoplasia of the frontal lobes and corpus callosum. In summary, diagnosis of HGPPS may be established by ophthalmologic and molecular investigation early in life, allowing ongoing orthopedic surveillance from an early stage.