P.077 Utility of a next generation sequencing in the diagnosis of Congenital Myasthenic Syndromes

Abstract

Background: Congenital Myasthenic Syndromes (CMS) are heterogeneous disorders caused by genetically determined structural or functional differences in proteins involved with the neuromuscular junctions. Clinical and molecular genetics studies of CMS patients have revealed significant locus heterogeneity; there are 21 known genes related to CMS, but other genes may mimic the phenotype, justifying the use of a multi-gene panel for genetic testing Methods: Our group developed custom sequence capture probes designed to flank 27 different genes associated with CMS, including enrichment for all coding exons as well the flanking intronic regions. We enrolled 20 patients from the paediatric and adult neuromuscular clinic with a clinical phenotype of CMS. Using custom analytical, we -assessed the sequence variants and exon-level CNVs for each patient. Results: Thirteen male and seven female patients with median age of 12.25 years (range 1.5-39y) were assessed. We identified missense and CNVs in 17 patients, including established pathogenic mutations confirming the diagnosis in 5 patients Conclusions: The use of Next Generation Sequence with CNV for CMS can help determine the underlying causes of most CMS disorders and allow appropriate medical treatment, refined genetic counseling, and improved understanding of prognosis, justifying the implementation in the standard clinical screening of CMS.