Molecular Etiology of Hereditary Single-Side Deafness

Unilateral sensorineural hearing loss (USNHL)/single-side deafness (SSD) is a frequently encountered disability in children. The etiology of a substantial portion of USNHL/SSD still remains unknown, and genetic causes have not been clearly elucidated. In this study, the authors evaluated the heritability of USNHL/SSD.The authors sequentially recruited 50 unrelated children with SSD. For an etiologic diagnosis, we performed a rigorous review on the phenotypes of family members of all children and conducted, if necessary, molecular genetic tests including targeted exome sequencing of 129 deafness genes.Among the 50 SSD children cohort, the authors identify 4 (8%) unrelated SSD probands from 4 families (SH136, SB173, SB177, and SB199) with another hearing impaired family members. Notably, all 4 probands in our cohort with a familial history of SSD also have pigmentary abnormalities such as brown freckles or premature gray hair within first degree relatives, which may indicate that genes whose products are involved with pigmentary disorder could be candidates for heritable SSD. Indeed, SH136 and SB199 turned out to segregate a mutation in MITF and PAX3, respectively, leading to a molecular diagnosis of Waardenburg syndrome (WS).We report, for the first time in the literature, a significant heritability of pediatric SSD. There is a strong association between the heritability of USNHL/SSD and the pigmentary abnormality, shedding a new light on the understanding of the molecular basis of heritable USNHL/SSD. In case of children with congenital SSD, it would be mandatory to rigorously screen pigmentary abnormalities. WS should also be included in the differential diagnosis of children with USNHL/SSD, especially in a familial form.