To identify the causative gene in a family affected with Usher syndrome (USH) with retinitis pigmentosa sine pigmento (RPSP) and to analyze the genotype-phenotype correlation.

A retrospective clinical study. A 9-year-old girl with RPSP type 1F USH diagnosed in the ophthalmology clinic of Henan Provincial People's Hospital in November 2019 and her parents were included in the study. The patient had bilateral night blindness for more than 4 years, she suffered from hearing loss 7 years, and is currently binaural sensorineural deafness. The best corrected visual acuity in both eyes was 0.5⁺. There was showed no obvious pigmentation on the fundus. The visual acuity of the peripheral field of vision decreased. Optical coherence tomography showed that the outer layer of the peripheral retina became thinner and the ellipsoid band disappeared. On electroretinogram examination, the rod and cone system response was severely decreased. The clinical phenotype of the parents of the child were normal. The peripheral venous blood of the child and his parents were extracted, the whole genome DNA was extracted, the custom developed targeted capture kit (PS400) was used, and the next-generation sequencing technology was used to detect genetic mutations. The suspected pathogenic mutation sites were verified by Sanger; co-segregation was performed among family members. The pathogenicity of variants were evaluated according to the interpretation standards and guidelines of sequence variants. Bioinformatics techniques were used to assess the impact of variants on encoded proteins.

The results of genetic testing showed that the proband detected the PCDH15 gene c.4109dupA (p.K1370fs) (M1), c.17dupA (p.Y6_L7delinsX) (M2) compound heterozygous mutation sites, verified by Sanger sequencing, the mutations were in the family in a state of co-segregation. According to the evaluation of sequence variation interpretation standards and guidelines, M1 and M2 were pathogenic variants of the PCDH15 gene. M1 led to a complete change in the transmembrane structure of the encoded protein, and M2 caused the gene to only translate 6 amino acids, which predicted that the PCDH15 protein cannot be synthesized. According to the clinical phenotype, gene mutation pathogenicity and protein structure prediction, the final clinical diagnosis was PCDH15-related type 1F.

PCDH15 genes c.4109dupA and c.17dupA are the pathogenic mutation sites of USH in this family. These compound heterozygous new mutations lead to the failure of normal synthesis of PCDH15 protein, which leads to ocular and ear manifestations.

Usher Syndromes; Genes; Mutation; PCDH15; Retinitis pigmentosa sine pigmento