Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) occurs in populations in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf area. Approximately 2000 known variants have been identified for the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CTFR) gene. Screening for ten of the most common variants can detect 80% of alleles.
Objective: Determine the pattern of CFTR variants in the CF population of Saudi Arabia.
Design: A retrospective, descriptive.
Setting: Tertiary care center.
Patients and methods: We examined the medical records of 396 confirmed CF patients of all age groups that were positive for a CFTR variant from the period of 1 January 1998 to 1 December 2017.
Main outcome measures: Zygosity, morbidity and mortality patterns of different types of CFTR variants.
Sample size: 312 families that included 396 patients.
Results: Of 48 variants identified, 6 were novel, having not been described in the medical literature. A homozygous state was found in 283 families (90.7%) and compound heterozygosity in 23 (7.4%). Six families were heterozygous (1.9%). Median age (interquartile range) was 10.2 months (4.4 months to 5.7 years) at diagnosis and 9.7 (5.4-16.5) years at follow up. Of 396 patients, 378 patients (95.5%) survived and 18 (4.5%) died. The ten most common variants identified in descending frequency were: p.Gly473GlufsX54 in 98 alleles (16%), p.Ile1234Val in 66 alleles (11%), F508del in 64 alleles (11%), 711+1G>T in 62 alleles (10%), 3120+1G>A in 62 alleles (11%), p.His139Leuin 38 alleles (6.4%), p.Gln637Hisfs in 30 alleles (5.2%), p.Ser549Arg in 27 alleles (4.5%), p.Asn1303Lys in 14 alleles (2.3%), delExon19-21in 10 alleles (1.6%). This analysis identified 79.2% of our CFTR variants.
Conclusion: CFTR mutational patterns in our CF population are characterized by a high allelic heterogeneity. The high prevalence of homozygous variants reflects the high level of consanguinity between parents.
Limitations: Our CFTR screening reflected only about 80% of CF patients in Saudi Arabia.
Conflict of interest: None.