A Rare Novel CLCN2 Variation and Risk of Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome: Whole-Exome Sequencing in a Multiplex Family and a Follow-Up Study in a Chinese Population

Abstract

Rare inherited variations in multiplex families with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) are suggested to play an important role in the genetic etiology of GTS. In order to explore the rare inherited variations with the risk of GTS, whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed in a family with three affected patients with GTS. Among the five novel rare variations identified by WES, CLCN2 G161S was presented in three patients, but not in four unaffected individuals, and thus co-segregated with GTS. A validation study was also performed in a cohort of Chinses Han population to further examine the identified rare variants. CLCN2 G161S was genotyped in 207 sporadic patients with tic disorder including 111 patients with GTS and 489 healthy controls. Compared with that in controls [allele frequency (AF) = 0], CLCN2 G161S had higher variant AF in patients with tic (AF = 0.00483) and in patients with GTS (0.00900), respectively. However, this variant was absent from the current 1000 Genome databases, and the variant AF is very low in the current public databases including ExAC (AF = 0.00001) and gnomAD (AF = 0.00003). Our results suggest that CLCN2 G161S might play a major role in the genetic etiology of GTS, at least in a Chinese Han population.