Waardenburg syndrome

Auditory-pigmentary syndromes are caused by physical absence of melanocytes from the skin, hair, eyes, or the stria vascularis of the cochlea. Dominantly inherited examples with patchy depigmentation are usually labelled Waardenburg syndrome (WS). Type I WS, characterised by dystopia canthorum, is caused by loss of function mutations in the PAX3 gene. Type III WS (Klein-Waardenburg syndrome, with abnormalities of the arms) is an extreme presentation of type I; some but not all patients are homozygotes. Type IV WS (Shah-Waardenburg syndrome with Hirschsprung disease) can be caused by mutations in the genes for endothelin-3 or one of its receptors, EDNRB. Type II WS is a heterogeneous group, about 15% of whom are heterozygous for mutations in the MITF (microphthalmia associated transcription factor) gene. All these forms show marked variability even within families, and at present it is not possible to predict the severity, even when a mutation is detected. Characterising the genes is helping to unravel important developmental pathways in the neural crest and its derivatives.

Waardenburg syndrome type 2 (WS2) is a dominantly inherited syndrome of hearing loss and pigmentary disturbances. We recently mapped a WS2 gene to chromosome 3p12.3-p14.1 and proposed as a candidate gene MITF, the human homologue of the mouse microphthalmia (mi) gene. This encodes a putative basic-helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper transcription factor expressed in adult skin and in embryonic retina, otic vesicle and hair follicles. Mice carrying mi mutations show reduced pigmentation of the eyes and coat, and with some alleles, microphthalmia, hearing loss, osteopetrosis and mast cell defects. Here we show that affected individuals in two WS2 families have mutations affecting splice sites in the MITF gene.

Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) or colonic aganglionosis is a congenital disorder characterized by an absence of intramural ganglia along variable lengths of the colon resulting in intestinal obstruction. The incidence of HSCR is 1 in 5,000 live births. Mutations in the RET gene, which codes for a receptor tyrosine kinase, and in EDNRB which codes for the endothelin-B receptor, have been shown to be associated with HSCR in humans. The lethal-spotted mouse which has pigment abnormalities, but also colonic aganglionosis, carries a mutation in the gene coding for endothelin 3 (Edn3), the ligand for the receptor protein encoded by EDNRB. Here, we describe a mutation of the human gene for endothelin 3 (EDN3), homozygously present in a patient with a combined Waardenburg syndrome type 2 (WS2) and HSCR phenotype (Shah-Waardenburg syndrome). The mutation, Cys159Phe, in exon 3 in the ET-3 like domain of EDN3, presumably affects the proteolytic processing of the preproendothelin to the mature peptide EDN3. The patient's parents were first cousins. A previous child in this family had been diagnosed with a similar combination of HSCR, depigmentation and deafness. Depigmentation and deafness were present in other relatives. Moreover, we present a further indication for the involvement of EDNRB in HSCR by reporting a novel mutation detected in one of 40 unselected HSCR patients.