BackgroundDeficient nucleotide excision repair (NER) activity causes a variety of autosomal recessive diseases including xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) a disorder which pre-disposes to skin cancer, and the severe multisystem condition known as Cockayne syndrome (CS). In view of the clinical overlap between NER-related disorders, as well as the existence of multiple phenotypes and the numerous genes involved, we developed a new diagnostic approach based on the enrichment of 16 NER-related genes by multiplex amplification coupled with next-generation sequencing (NGS).MethodsOur test cohort consisted of 11 DNA samples, all with known mutations and/or non pathogenic SNPs in two of the tested genes. We then used the same technique to analyse samples from a prospective cohort of 40 patients. Multiplex amplification and sequencing were performed using AmpliSeq protocol on the Ion Torrent PGM (Life Technologies).ResultsWe identified causative mutations in 17 out of the 40 patients (43 %). Four patients showed biallelic mutations in the ERCC6(CSB) gene, five in the ERCC8(CSA) gene: most of them had classical CS features but some had very mild and incomplete phenotypes. A small cohort of 4 unrelated classic XP patients from the Basque country (Northern Spain) revealed a common splicing mutation in POLH (XP-variant), demonstrating a new founder effect in this population. Interestingly, our results also found ERCC2(XPD), ERCC3(XPB) or ERCC5(XPG) mutations in two cases of UV-sensitive syndrome and in two cases with mixed XP/CS phenotypes.ConclusionsOur study confirms that NGS is an efficient technique for the analysis of NER-related disorders on a molecular level. It is particularly useful for phenotypes with combined features or unusually mild symptoms. Targeted NGS used in conjunction with DNA repair functional tests and precise clinical evaluation permits rapid and cost-effective diagnosis in patients with NER-defects.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13023-016-0408-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cockayne syndrome is an autosomal recessive multisystem disorder characterized by intellectual disability, microcephaly, severe growth failure, sensory impairment, peripheral neuropathy, and cutaneous sensitivity. This rare disease is linked to disease-causing variations in the ERCC6 (CSB) and ERCC8 (CSA) genes. Various degrees of severity have been described according to age at onset and survival, without any clear genotype-phenotype correlation. All types of nucleotide changes have been observed in CS genes, including splice variations mainly affecting the splice site consensus sequences. We report here the case of two brothers from a consanguineous family presenting a severe but long-term survival phenotype of Cockayne syndrome. We identified in the patients a homozygous deep intronic nucleotide variation causing the insertion of a cryptic exon in the ERCC8 (CSA) transcript, by modifying intronic regulatory elements important for exon definition. The pathogenesis of the nucleotide variant NG_009289.1(NM_000082.3):c.173+1119G>C was validated in vitro with a reporter minigene system. To our knowledge, these are the first Cockayne patients described with this kind of disease-causing variation, though molecular mechanism underlying early onset symptoms and unexpected slow raise of progression of the disease remain to be elucidated.

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