Expanding the phenotypic spectrum of TNFRSF11A-associated dysosteosclerosis: a case with intracranial extramedullary hematopoiesis

Abstract

Dysosteosclerosis (DOS) is a rare sclerosing bone dysplasia characterized by osteosclerosis and platyspondyly. DOS is genetically heterogeneous and causally associated with mutations in three genes, SLC29A3, CSF1R, and TNFRSF11A. TNFRSF11A has been known as the causal gene for osteopetrosis, autosomal recessive 7, and is recently reported to cause DOS in three cases, which show a complex genotype-phenotype relationship. The phenotypic spectrum of TNFRSF11A-associated sclerosing bone dysplasia remains unclear and needs to be characterized further in more cases with molecular genetic diagnosis. Here, we report another TNFRSF11A-associated DOS case with a homozygous missense mutation (p.R129C). The mutation effect is different from the previous three cases, in which truncated or elongated RANK proteins were generated in isoform specific manner, thus enriching our understanding of the genotype-phenotype association in TNFRSF11A-associated sclerosing bone dysplasia. Besides DOS, our case presented with intracranial extramedullary hematopoiesis, which is an extremely rare condition and has not been identified in any other sclerosing bone dysplasias with molecular genetic diagnosis. Our findings provide the fourth case of TNFRSF11A-associated DOS and further expand its phenotypic spectrum.