SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND

COL11A2

Otospondylomegaepiphyseal dysplasia (OSMED) is an autosomal recessive disorder of connective tissue associated with severe non-progressive sensineural hearing loss, enlarged epiphyses, dysproportionally short limbs, and spinal deformities. The clinical phenotype of the skeleton overlaps with the autosomal dominant inherited disorders Stickler syndrome and Marshall syndrome. In OSMED, however, there are no ocular symptoms. Facial dysmorphia such as midface hypoplasia with a short upturned nose and a sunken nasal root are also characteristic.

 

To date, fewer than 30 independent cases of OSMED have been described, most of which have variants in the COL11A2 gene. However, there are also individual cases with COL2A1 variants. The product of the COL11A2 gene is a component of collagen type XI, which is a hetero-trimer of a1(XI), a2(XI) and a3(XI). a3(XI) is encoded by the COL2A1 gene and differs from a1(II) only by its stronger post-translational modification. In addition, there appears to be an interaction between collagen type XI and II, which has an influence on the regulation of the diameter of the collagen fibrils. This also explains the overlapping spectrum of phenotypic characteristics of OSMED and collagen type II diseases.

 

References

Barat-Houari et al. 2016, Hum Mutat 37:7 / Tokgöz-Yilmaz et al. 2011, Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 75:433 / Temtami et al. 2006, Am J Med Genet 140:1189 / Melkoniemi et al. 2000, Am J Hum Genet 66:368

GENES

COL11A2
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