Skip to main content

Becker’s myotonia: novel mutations and clinical variability in patients born to consanguineous parents

Abstract

Myotonia congenita is an inherited muscle disease present from childhood that is characterized by impaired muscle relaxation after contraction resulting in muscle stiffness; moreover, skeletal striated muscle groups may be involved. Myotonia congenita occurs due to chloride (Cl) channel mutations that reduce the stabilizing Cl conductance, and it is caused by mutations in the CLCN1 gene. This paper describes four patients from two different healthy consanguineous Turkish families with muscle stiffness and easy fatigability. A genetic investigation was performed. Mutation analyses showed a homozygous p.Tyr150* (c.450C > A) mutation in patients 1, 2 and 3 and a homozygous p.Leu159Cysfs*11 (c.475delC) mutation in patient 4 in the CLCN1 gene. These mutations have never been reported before and in silico analyses showed that the mutations were disease causing. They may be predicted to cause nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Our data expand the spectrum of CLCN1 mutations and provide insights for genotype–phenotype correlations of myotonia congenita.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  1. Heatwole CR, Moxley RT 3rd (2007) The nondystrophic myotonias. Neurotherapeutics 4:238–251

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Tang C-Y, Chen T-Y (2011) Physiology and pathophysiology of CLC-1: mechanisms of a chloride channel disease, myotonia. BioMed Res Int 2011:685328

    Google Scholar 

  3. Pedersen TH, Riisager A, de Paoli FV, Chen TY, Nielsen OB (2016) Role of physiological ClC-1 Cl- ion channel regulation for the excitability and function of working skeletal muscle. J Gen Physiol 147:291–308

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Fahlke C (2011) Chloride channels take center stage in a muscular drama. J Gen Physiol 137:17–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Colding-Jorgensen E (2005) Phenotypic variability in myotonia congenita. Muscle Nerve 32:19–34

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Becker PE (1979) Heterozygote manifestation in recessive generalized myotonia. Hum Genet 46:325–329

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Imbrici P, Altamura C, Pessia M, Mantegazza R, Desaphy JF, Camerino DC (2015) ClC-1 chloride channels: state-of-the-art research and future challenges. Front Cell Neurosci 9:156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Lorenz C, Meyer-Kleine C, Steinmeyer K, Koch MC, Jentsch TJ (1994) Genomic organization of the human muscle chloride channel CIC-1 and analysis of novel mutations leading to Becker-type myotonia. Hum Mol Genet 3:941–946

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Pusch M (2002) Myotonia caused by mutations in the muscle chloride channel gene CLCN1. Hum Mutat 19:423–434

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lossin C, George AL Jr (2008) Myotonia congenita. Adv Genet 63:25–55

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Duno M, Colding-Jorgensen E, Grunnet M, Jespersen T, Vissing J, Schwartz M (2004) Difference in allelic expression of the CLCN1 gene and the possible influence on the myotonia congenita phenotype. Eur J Hum Genet 12:738–743

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Stenson PD, Mort M, Ball EV, Shaw K, Phillips A, Cooper DN (2014) The human gene mutation database: building a comprehensive mutation repository for clinical and molecular genetics, diagnostic testing and personalized genomic medicine. Hum Genet 133:1–9

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Simpson BJ, Height TA, Rychkov GY, Nowak KJ, Laing NG, Hughes BP, Bretag AH (2004) Characterization of three myotonia-associated mutations of the CLCN1 chloride channel gene via heterologous expression. Hum Mutat 24:185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Weinberger S, Wojciechowski D, Sternberg D, Lehmann-Horn F, Jurkat-Rott K, Becher T, Begemann B, Fahlke C, Fischer M (2012) Disease-causing mutations C277R and C277Y modify gating of human ClC-1 chloride channels in myotonia congenita. J Physiol 590:3449–3464

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Heatwole CR, Statland JM, Logigian EL (2013) The diagnosis and treatment of myotonic disorders. Muscle Nerve 47:632–648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Brugnoni R, Kapetis D, Imbrici P, Pessia M, Canioni E, Colleoni L, de Rosbo NK, Morandi L, Cudia P, Gashemi N, Bernasconi P, Desaphy JF, Conte D, Mantegazza R (2013) A large cohort of myotonia congenita probands: novel mutations and a high-frequency mutation region in exons 4 and 5 of the CLCN1 gene. J Hum Genet 58:581–587

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Raja Rayan DL, Haworth A, Sud R, Matthews E, Fialho D, Burge J, Portaro S, Schorge S, Tuin K, Lunt P, McEntagart M, Toscano A, Davis MB, Hanna MG (2012) A new explanation for recessive myotonia congenita: exon deletions and duplications in CLCN1. Neurology 78:1953–1958

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Desaphy JF, Gramegna G, Altamura C, Dinardo MM, Imbrici P, George AL Jr, Modoni A, Lomonaco M, Conte Camerino D (2013) Functional characterization of ClC-1 mutations from patients affected by recessive myotonia congenita presenting with different clinical phenotypes. Exp Neurol 248:530–540

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Skalova D, Zidkova J, Vohanka S, Mazanec R, Musova Z, Vondracek P, Mrazova L, Kraus J, Reblova K, Fajkusova L (2013) CLCN1 mutations in Czech patients with myotonia congenita, in silico analysis of novel and known mutations in the human dimeric skeletal muscle chloride channel. PLoS ONE 8:e82549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Lamb FS, Clayton GH, Liu BX, Smith RL, Barna TJ, Schutte BC (1999) Expression of CLCN voltage-gated chloride channel genes in human blood vessels. J Mol Cell Cardiol 31:657–666

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Portaro S, Altamura C, Licata N, Camerino GM, Imbrici P, Musumeci O, Rodolico C, Conte Camerino D, Toscano A, Desaphy JF (2015) Clinical, molecular, and functional characterization of CLCN1 mutations in three families with recessive myotonia congenita. Neuromolecular Med 17:285–296

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Thomas J, Tarleton J, Baker SK (2008) Recessive CLCN1 mutation presenting as thomsen disease. Muscle Nerve 38:1515–1517

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ibrahim Sahin.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical statement

We confirm that we have read the journal’s position on issues involved in ethical publication and we affirm that this report is consistent with those guidelines. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Ataturk University and informed consent was obtained from the patients or their parents (mentioned within “Genetic Testing”).

Informed Consent

Consent, for the publication of the case reports and any additional related information, was taken from the patient or their parents involved in the study.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 14 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sahin, I., Erdem, H.B., Tan, H. et al. Becker’s myotonia: novel mutations and clinical variability in patients born to consanguineous parents. Acta Neurol Belg 118, 567–572 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-018-0893-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-018-0893-0

Keywords

  • Becker’s myotonia
  • Thomsen’s myotonia
  • Myotonia congenita
  • Novel mutation
  • CLCN1
  • Consanguineous