Two Decades after Mandibuloacral Dysplasia Discovery: Additional Cases and Comprehensive View of Disease Characteristics

Pathogenic variants in the LMNA gene cause a group of heterogeneous genetic disorders, called laminopathies. In particular, homozygous or compound heterozygous variants in LMNA have been associated with “mandibuloacral dysplasia type A” (MADA), an autosomal recessive disorder, characterized by mandibular hypoplasia, growth retardation mainly postnatal, pigmentary skin changes, progressive osteolysis of the distal phalanges and/or clavicles, and partial lipodystrophy. The detailed characteristics of this multisystemic disease have yet to be specified due to its rarity and the limited number of cases described. Here, we report three unrelated Egyptian patients with variable severity of MAD features. Next-generation sequencing using a gene panel revealed a homozygous c.1580G>A-p.Arg527His missense variant in LMNA exon 9 in an affected individual with a typical MADA phenotype. Another homozygous c.1580G>T-p.Arg527Leu variant affecting the same amino acid was identified in two additional patients, who both presented with severe manifestations very early in life. We combined our observations together with data from all MADA cases reported in the literature to get a clearer picture of the phenotypic variability in this disease. This work raises the number of reported MADA families, argues for the presence of the founder effect in Egypt, and strengthens genotype–phenotype correlations