CONCLUSION We have demonstrated differences in cortical activation with language-related visual stimuli in patients who were profoundly deafened due to genetic mutations in GJB2 and SLC26A4. The differences in cortical processing patterns between these two cases may have been influenced by the differing clinical courses and pathogenesis of hearing loss due to genetic mutations. Our results sugg...

BACKGROUND Pendred syndrome (PDS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by sensorineural hearing impairment and variable degree of goitrous enlargement of the thyroid gland with a partial defect in iodine organification. The thyroid function phenotype can range from normal function to overt hypothyroidism. It is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the SLC26A4 (PDS) gene. The seve...

Mutations of SLC26A4 are the most common cause of the hearing loss associated with enlargement of the vestibular aqueduct. SLC26A4 encodes pendrin, an anion exchanger expressed in the cochlea, the vestibular labyrinth, and the endolymphatic sac of the inner ear. Slc26a4 mice, devoid of pendrin expression, develop an enlarged membranous labyrinth which leads to the failure to develop hearing, th...

The current study reports the successful application of a fast and efficient genetic screening system for common hearing loss (HL) genes based on SNPscan genotyping technology. Genetic analysis of 115 variants in common genes related to HL, GJB2, SLC26A4 and MT-RNR, was performed on 695 subjects with non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL) from the Northern China. The results found that 38.7% (269/69...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To determine the distribution of the number and types of mutant alleles of SLC26A4 and their correlations with hearing phenotypes in Korean bilateral enlargement of vestibular aqueduct (EVA) patients. STUDY DESIGN Prospective cohort study. METHODS To determine the number and type of mutant alleles, Sanger sequencing of coding region of SLC26A4 was performed for 56 pati...

Mutation of SLC26A4 is the most common cause of prelingual hearing loss in East Asia. Patients with SLC26A4 mutations have variable phenotypes ranging from non-syndromic hearing loss to Pendred syndrome. Here, we analyzed the correlation between genotype and various inner ear phenotypes and found a possible underlying mechanism. This study included 111 patients with bi-allelic SLC26A4 mutations...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Pendrin (SLC26A4), a transporter accomplishing anion exchange, is expressed in inner ear, thyroid gland, kidneys, lung, liver and heart. Loss or reduction of function mutations of SLC26A4 underlie Pendred syndrome, a disorder invariably leading to hearing loss with enlarged vestibular aqueducts and in some patients to hypothyroidism and goiter. Renal pendrin expression is up-reg...

A Chinese family was identified with clinical features of enlarged vestibular aqueduct syndrome (EVAS). The mutational analysis showed that the proband (III-2) had EVAS with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and carried a rare compound heterozygous mutation of SLC26A4 (IVS7-2A>G, c.2167C>G), which was inherited from the same mutant alleles of IVS7-2A>G heterozygous father and c.2167C>G heter...

Recessive mutations of the SLC26A4 (PDS) gene on chromosome 7q31 can cause sensorineural deafness with goiter (Pendred syndrome, OMIM 274600) or NSRD with goiter (at the DFNB4 locus, OMIM 600791). H723R (2168A>G) is the most commonly reported SLC26A4 mutations in Korean and Japanese and known as founder mutation. We recently experienced one patient with enlarged vestibular aqueduct syndrome. Th...