SNP Array Screening and Long Range PCR-Based Targeted Next Generation Sequencing for Autosomal Recessive Disease with Consanguinity: Insight from a Case of Xeroderma Pigmentosum Group C

Advances in genetic technologies have made genetic testing more accessible than ever before. However, depending on national, regional, legal, and health insurance circumstances, testing procedures may still need to be streamlined in real-world clinical practice. In cases of autosomal recessive disease with consanguinity, the mutation locus is necessarily isodisomy because both alleles originate from a common ancestral chromosome. Based on this premise, we implemented integrated genetic diagnostic methods using SNP array screening and long range PCR-based targeted NGS in a Japanese patient with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) under the limitation of the national health insurance system. SNP array results showed isodisomy only in XPC and ERCC4 loci. NGS, with a minimal set of long-range PCR primers, detected a homozygous frameshift mutation in XPC; NM_004628.5:c.218_219insT p.(Lys73AsnfsTer9), confirmed by Sanger sequencing, leading to a rapid diagnosis of XP group C. This shortcut strategy is applicable to all autosomal recessive diseases caused by consanguineous marriages, especially in scenarios with a moderate number of genes to test, a common occurrence in clinical genetic practice.