Case ReportA novel mutation in sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase causing congenital brain malformation
Introduction
Sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase (SGPL1) is a ubiquitously expressed enzyme involved in the degradation of the regulatory sphingolipid sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). Recently SGPL1 mutations have been published to cause a syndromic form of a congenital nephrotic syndrome associated with adrenal insufficiency and/or calcification, ichthyosis, immunodeficiency and a wide range of pathological neurological features (Fig. 1, Supplementary Tables 1, 2) [1], [2], [3]. Here we present a novel mutation in SGPL1 causing microcephaly, neuronal migration defects, and cerebellar hypoplasia additionally to the classical features of fetal hydrops. We have elaborated on the neurological spectrum and provide a review of SGPL1 related phenotypes.
Section snippets
Case report
Our patient was the second child of consanguineous first cousin parents from Afghanistan (Supplementary Fig. 1). During the pregnancy, a fetal hydrops was noted on ultrasound at gestational week 30. The patient was delivered by C-section at 36 1/7 weeks of gestation (birth weight 2500 g) due to signs of fetal stress. He presented with perinatal asphyxia (Apgar 1/1/2; umbilical artery pH: 6.85) and needed resuscitation including invasive ventilation and catecholamine administration. For
Discussion
Neurological pathologies are an important feature of SGPL1-associated phenotypes since half of the reported patients surviving for at least one month (14/29 patients; 10/16 families) exhibited pathological neurological features. These features range from mild neurodevelopment delay over hearing loss and peripheral nerve paralysis to severe encephalopathic neurodegenerative disease (Supplementary Table 2) [1], [2], [3], [4].
Apart from our case only two families (Supplementary Table 2, family (g)
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (CI 218/1-1), Germany grant to Dr. Sebahattin Cirak. We thank Dr. Bodo Beck for the constructive discussion of the case. We thank the Cologne Center for Genomics for the whole exome sequencing.
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