Identification of compound heterozygous DNAH11 variants in a Han-Chinese family with primary ciliary dyskinesia

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a group of genetically and clinically heterogeneous disorders with motile cilia dysfunction. It is clinically characterized by oto-sino-pulmonary diseases and subfertility, and half of the patients have situs inversus (Kartagener syndrome). To identify the genetic cause in a Han-Chinese pedigree, whole-exome sequencing was conducted in the 37-year-old proband, and then, Sanger sequencing was performed on available family members. Minigene splicing assay was applied to verify the impact of the splice-site variant. Compound heterozygous variants including a splice-site variant (c.1974-1G>C, rs1359107415) and a missense variant (c.7787G>A, p.(Arg2596Gln), rs780492669), in the dynein axonemal heavy chain 11 gene (DNAH11) were identified and confirmed as the disease-associated variants of this lineage. The minigene expression in vitro revealed that the c.1974-1G>C variant could cause skipping over exon 12, predicted to result in a truncated protein. This discovery may enlarge the DNAH11 variant spectrum of PCD, promote accurate genetic counselling and contribute to PCD diagnosis.