Context
This study describes the molecular genetics of pseudohypoaldosteronism type 1b (PHA 1b) in the highly consanguineous population of two Arabian Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Patients and Methods
This study enrolled 22 patients from 13 unrelated families (two families with five patients from Oman and 11 families with 17 patients from Saudi Arabia). All of these patients had presented within the first 10 days of life with nausea and vomiting, hyponatremia, hyperkalemia and hypotension. We isolated DNA from peripheral blood and PCR-sequenced all exons and exon-intron boundaries of SCNN1A and, if negative, SCNN1B and SCNN1G using the Dideoxy Chain termination method.
Results
We found a total of eight mutations in 13 families as follows: six mutations in SCNN1A, one in SCNN1B, and one in SCNN1G. All of these mutations were novel except one. SCNN1A mutations were: c.1496A>G, p.Q499R (novel) in one patient; c.1453C>T, p.Q485X (novel) in one patient; c.1322_1322delA, p.N441Tfs*41 (novel) in two patients of one family; c.876 + 2 delGAGT (novel) in three patients of one family; c.203_204 delTC, p.I68Tfs*76 (known mutation) in eight patients of five families; and whole SCNN1A gene deletion (novel) in two patients of two families. In addition, a nonsense SCNN1B mutation c.1694C>A, p.S565X (novel) was found in three siblings from one Omani family, and an SCNN1G deletion mutation c.527_528 delCA, p.T176Rfs*9 (novel) in two siblings form another Omani family.
Conclusion
We characterized a unique genotype of PHA 1b with several novel gene-structure disrupting mutations in SCNN1A, SCNN1B and SCNN1G in a consanguineous population.