Intellectual disability - microarray and sequencing
Gene: EPHA7 Amber List (moderate evidence)Comment on list classification: New gene added by Konstantinos Varvagiannis (Other). This gene is not associated with a phenotype in OMIM or Gene2Phenotype. This gene has been given an Amber rating based on expert review.Created: 14 Jul 2021, 2 p.m. | Last Modified: 14 Jul 2021, 2 p.m.
Panel Version: 3.1192
I don't know
Lévy et al (2021 - PMID: 34176129) provide evidence that haploinssuficiency of EPHA7 results in a neurodevelopmental disorder.
The authors report on 12 individuals belonging to 9 unrelated families, all harboring with 6q microdeletions spanning EPHA7.
Overlapping features included DD (13/13), ID (10/10 - mild in most cases, individuals with larger CNVs/additional variants had more severe phenotype), speech delay and behavioral disorders. Variable other features incl. hypotonia (70%), non specific facial features, eye abnormalities (40%) and cardiac defects (25%).
The CNVs ranged from 152 kb to few Mb in size but in 4 subjects (P5-8) were only minimal, involving only EPHA7.
The 6q microdeletion included additional ID-related genes in at least one case (eg. ZNF292 in P12) while one subject (P4) harbored also a 7q11.23 Williams syndrome deletion.
Confirmation (e.g. with FISH or qPCR) and segregation analyses were performed. 9 out of 12 individuals had inherited the deletion (5 subjects paternal, 4 maternal), in 1 subject (P12) this occured de novo, while for 2 others inheritance was not specified. Most deletions were inherited from an unaffected parent (in 6/7 families), with unclear contribution in a further one.
Sequencing of an ID gene panel was performed for 5 subjects (P1-4 (sibs) and P9) and exome for 4 ones (P1,2,10,11). CNVs in all these subjects were not limited to EPHA7. These investigations did not reveal other variants responsible for the phenotype of these subjects.
EPHA7 encodes ephrin receptor A7. As the authors comment, ephrin receptors are the largest family of transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinases. These receptors interact with membrane bound ephrins and binding activates the tyrosine kinase activity of the receptor.
The authors discuss on previous studies suggesting an important role for EphA7 in brain development (modulation of cell-cell adhesion and repulsion, regulation of dendrite morphogenesis in early corticogenesis, role in dendritic spine formation later in development. EphA7 has also been proposed to drive neuronal maturation and synaptic function).
Haploinsufficiency for other ephrins or ephrin receptors has been implicated in other NDDs.
Finally the authors comment on a previous report of a de novo 2.16 Mb microdeletion spanning EPHA7 and another gene (TSG1). This deletion, reported by Traylor et al (2009 - PMID: 19664229) was identified in a 15-month old male with DD, microcephaly and dysmorphic features.
Overall Lévy et al promote incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity with haploinsufficiency of this gene being a risk factor for NDD. [The gene has also an %HI of 2.76% and a pLI of 1].
In DECIPHER there are 2 indivuals (DDD participants) with de novo missense variants and abnormality of the nervous system.
As a result this gene can be considered for inclusion in the ID panel with amber rating pending further evidence.
Sources: LiteratureCreated: 4 Jul 2021, 8:26 p.m.
Mode of inheritance
MONOALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal, imprinted status unknown
Phenotypes
Global developmental delay; Intellectual disability; Delayed speech and language development; Behavioral abnormality
Publications
Tag watchlist tag was added to gene: EPHA7.
Gene: epha7 has been classified as Amber List (Moderate Evidence).
Phenotypes for gene: EPHA7 were changed from Global developmental delay; Intellectual disability; Delayed speech and language development; Behavioral abnormality to Global developmental delay; Intellectual disability, MONDO:0001071; Delayed speech and language development; Behavioral abnormality
gene: EPHA7 was added gene: EPHA7 was added to Intellectual disability. Sources: Literature Mode of inheritance for gene: EPHA7 was set to MONOALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal, imprinted status unknown Publications for gene: EPHA7 were set to 34176129; 19664229 Phenotypes for gene: EPHA7 were set to Global developmental delay; Intellectual disability; Delayed speech and language development; Behavioral abnormality Penetrance for gene: EPHA7 were set to Incomplete Review for gene: EPHA7 was set to AMBER
If promoting or demoting a gene, please provide comments to justify a decision to move it.
Genes included in a Genomics England gene panel for a rare disease category (green list) should fit the criteria A-E outlined below.
These guidelines were developed as a combination of the ClinGen DEFINITIVE evidence for a causal role of the gene in the disease(a), and the Developmental Disorder Genotype-Phenotype (DDG2P) CONFIRMED DD Gene evidence level(b) (please see the original references provided below for full details). These help provide a guideline for expert reviewers when assessing whether a gene should be on the green or the red list of a panel.
A. There are plausible disease-causing mutations(i) within, affecting or encompassing an interpretable functional region(ii) of this gene identified in multiple (>3) unrelated cases/families with the phenotype(iii).
OR
B. There are plausible disease-causing mutations(i) within, affecting or encompassing cis-regulatory elements convincingly affecting the expression of a single gene identified in multiple (>3) unrelated cases/families with the phenotype(iii).
OR
C. As definitions A or B but in 2 or 3 unrelated cases/families with the phenotype, with the addition of convincing bioinformatic or functional evidence of causation e.g. known inborn error of metabolism with mutation in orthologous gene which is known to have the relevant deficient enzymatic activity in other species; existence of an animal model which recapitulates the human phenotype.
AND
D. Evidence indicates that disease-causing mutations follow a Mendelian pattern of causation appropriate for reporting in a diagnostic setting(iv).
AND
E. No convincing evidence exists or has emerged that contradicts the role of the gene in the specified phenotype.
(i)Plausible disease-causing mutations: Recurrent de novo mutations convincingly affecting gene function. Rare, fully-penetrant mutations - relevant genotype never, or very rarely, seen in controls. (ii) Interpretable functional region: ORF in protein coding genes miRNA stem or loop. (iii) Phenotype: the rare disease category, as described in the eligibility statement. (iv) Intermediate penetrance genes should not be included.
It’s assumed that loss-of-function variants in this gene can cause the disease/phenotype unless an exception to this rule is known. We would like to collect information regarding exceptions. An example exception is the PCSK9 gene, where loss-of-function variants are not relevant for a hypercholesterolemia phenotype as they are associated with increased LDL-cholesterol uptake via LDLR (PMID: 25911073).
If a curated set of known-pathogenic variants is available for this gene-phenotype, please contact us at [email protected]
We classify loss-of-function variants as those with the following Sequence Ontology (SO) terms:
Term descriptions can be found on the PanelApp homepage and Ensembl.
If you are submitting this evaluation on behalf of a clinical laboratory please indicate whether you report variants in this gene as part of your current diagnostic practice by checking the box
Standardised terms were used to represent the gene-disease mode of inheritance, and were mapped to commonly used terms from the different sources. Below each of the terms is described, along with the equivalent commonly-used terms.
A variant on one allele of this gene can cause the disease, and imprinting has not been implicated.
A variant on the paternally-inherited allele of this gene can cause the disease, if the alternate allele is imprinted (function muted).
A variant on the maternally-inherited allele of this gene can cause the disease, if the alternate allele is imprinted (function muted).
A variant on one allele of this gene can cause the disease. This is the default used for autosomal dominant mode of inheritance where no knowledge of the imprinting status of the gene required to cause the disease is known. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: autosomal dominant, dominant, AD, DOMINANT.
A variant on both alleles of this gene is required to cause the disease. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: autosomal recessive, recessive, AR, RECESSIVE.
The disease can be caused by a variant on one or both alleles of this gene. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: autosomal recessive or autosomal dominant, recessive or dominant, AR/AD, AD/AR, DOMINANT/RECESSIVE, RECESSIVE/DOMINANT.
A variant on one allele of this gene can cause the disease, however a variant on both alleles of this gene can result in a more severe form of the disease/phenotype.
A variant in this gene can cause the disease in males as they have one X-chromosome allele, whereas a variant on both X-chromosome alleles is required to cause the disease in females. Mapped to the following commonly used term from different sources: X-linked recessive.
A variant in this gene can cause the disease in males as they have one X-chromosome allele. A variant on one allele of this gene may also cause the disease in females, though the disease/phenotype may be less severe and may have a later-onset than is seen in males. X-linked inactivation and mosaicism in different tissues complicate whether a female presents with the disease, and can change over their lifetime. This term is the default setting used for X-linked genes, where it is not known definitately whether females require a variant on each allele of this gene in order to be affected. Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: X-linked dominant, x-linked, X-LINKED, X-linked.
The gene is in the mitochondrial genome and variants within this can cause this disease, maternally inherited. Mapped to the following commonly used term from different sources: Mitochondrial.
Mapped to the following commonly used terms from different sources: Unknown, NA, information not provided.
For example, if the mode of inheritance is digenic, please indicate this in the comments and which other gene is involved.