Introduction: Congenital myopathies are a broad group of inborn muscle disorders caused by a multitude of genetic factors, often characterized by muscle atrophy and hypotonia.
Methods: Clinical studies, imaging, histology, whole-exome sequencing (WES) and muscle tissue RNA studies.
Results: We describe a severe congenital myopathy manifesting at birth with bilateral clubfeet, delayed motor development and hypotonia, becoming evident by 4 months of age. At 3 years of age, the patient had tongue fasciculations, was bedridden, and was chronically ventilated via tracheostomy. Imaging studies demonstrated severe muscle atrophy and, surprisingly, cerebral atrophy; electromyography demonstrated a myasthenic pattern and histological evaluation did not facilitate a definitive diagnosis. Trio WES did not identify a causative variant, except for a non-canonical intronic TPM3 c.118-12G>A variant of uncertain significance. Transcript analysis of muscle tissue from the patient proved the pathogenicity of this homozygous variant, with a 97% reduction in the muscle-specific TPM3.12 transcript.
Discussion: This study broadens the phenotypic spectrum of recessive TPM3 disease, highlighting tongue fasciculations and bilateral clubfoot, as well as possibly-related cerebral atrophy. It also shows the importance of a broad approach to genetic analysis and the utility of RNA-based studies, demonstrating efficacy of early genome and transcriptome queries in facilitating rapid and cost-effective diagnosis of congenital myopathies.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.