We report the case of a congenitally deaf white male with mild palmoplantar keratoderma, ichthyosiform scaling, follicular hyperkeratosis, and mild keratitis, features consistent with keratitis-ichthyosis-deafness syndrome. His major problem was severe, disfiguring, inflammatory dissecting folliculitis of the scalp, hidradenitis suppurativa, and cystic acne, features comprising the follicular o...

OBJECTIVE To develop a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based test for the detection of a common frame-shift mutation (35delG) in the connexin-26 (GJB2) gene, and to investigate the status of this mutation in Oman. METHOD A PCR test, based on site-directed mutagenesis, was developed for the 35delG mutation. A mutagenesis primer generated an EcoN I site in a short (87 bp) DNA fragment amplified...

Non-syndromic recessive deafness (NSRD) is the most common form of prelingual hereditary hearing loss. To date, 10 autosomal NSRD loci (DFNBs) have been identified by genetic mapping; at least three times as many additional loci are expected to be identified. We have performed linkage analyses in two inter-related inbred kindreds, comprised of >50 affecteds, from a single Israeli-Arab village s...

RNA interference (RNAi) using short interfering RNA (siRNA) is an attractive therapeutic approach for treatment of dominant-negative mutations. Some rare missense dominant-negative mutations lead to congenital-hearing impairments. A variety of viral vectors have been tested with variable efficacy for modulating gene expression in inner ear. However, there is concern regarding their safety for c...

The characteristics and mechanism of the inhibition of connexin-mediated gap junctional communication by the non-genotoxic rodent hepatocarcinogen, nafenopin, has been studied in rat hepatocytes. Nafenopin caused a time- and concentration-dependent inhibition of dye coupling in hepatocytes as assessed by transfer of microinjected lucifer yellow. A half-maximum inhibitory effect of nafenopin occ...