• Khalid Al-Sebeih, Marium Al-Kandari, Sadika A Al-Awadi, Fatma F Hegazy, Ghada A Al-Khamees, Kamal K Naguib, and Reem M Al-Dabbous.
• Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Health Science Center, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
• Med Princ Pract. 2014 Jan 1; 23 (1): 74-9.

ObjectiveTo study connexin 26 (Cx26) gene mutations among autosomal recessive non-syndromal hearing loss in Kuwaiti patients and evaluate their effect on phenotypes.Subjects And MethodsThis cross sectional study included 100 patients aged between 6 months and 18 years, who were referred to the Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Centre for audiology and speech evaluation of autosomal recessive non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss confirmed by clinico-genetic evaluation and a battery of diagnostic tests. Gene profiling and sequencing were performed to detect the presence and nature of Cx26 mutation.ResultsOf the 100 patients, mutation of Cx26 gene was detected in 15 patients (15%) of which 9 (60%) cases were heterozygous and 6 cases (40%) were homozygous. Eighty per cent of the 15 Cx26 positive cases resulted from the 35delG mutation. Among the heterozygous cases, 6 (66.6%) were positive for 35delG. All 6 homozygous patients were positive for the 35delG mutation. A significant correlation was found between genetic findings (p = 0.013) and family history (p = 0.029), as well as the onset (p = 0.015), course (p = 0.033), degree and configuration of hearing loss (p = 0.001).ConclusionAmong the selected Kuwaiti population sample, the Cx26 gene mutation was responsible for 15% of autosomal recessive non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss. We recommend that screening for Cx26 gene mutation be considered in the screening strategy of patients with non-syndromic childhood hearing loss for counselling and management purposes. .© 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel

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