Genetic Variability in Slovenian Cohort of Patients with Oculocutaneous Albinism

Abstract

Oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) is an inherited disorder affecting the visual system and skin pigmentation. Our aim was to evaluate genetic and clinical heterogeneity in a cohort of Slovenian paediatric patients with clinically suspected OCA using advanced molecular-genetics approach. In as much as 20 out of 25 patients, genetic variants explaining their clinical phenotype were identified. The great majority of patients (15/25) had genetic variants in TYR gene associated with OCA type 1, followed by variants in TYRP1, SLC45A2 and HPS1 genes causative for OCA3, OCA4 and Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome type 1, respectively. We concluded that OCA phenotype could not predict genotype and vice versa. Nevertheless, the diagnostic yield after targeted next generation sequencing (NGS) was 80% and proved to be affective in our paediatric cohort of patients with various degree of OCA. Even in 16 patients with normal complexion the diagnostic yield was 62,5%. Interestingly, we have identified a patient of white European ancestry with OCA3, which is an extremely rare report, and one patient with OCA due to the Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome type 1.