BACKGROUND: Lowe syndrome is characterized by the presence of congenital cataracts, psychomotor retardation, and dysfunctional proximal renal tubules. This study presents a case of an atypical phenotype, investigates the genetic characteristics of eight children diagnosed with Lowe syndrome in southern China, and performs functional analysis of the novel variants.
METHODS: Whole-exome sequencing was conducted on eight individuals diagnosed with Lowe syndrome from three medical institutions in southern China. Retrospective collection and analysis of clinical and genetic data were performed, and functional analysis was conducted on the five novel variants.
RESULTS: In our cohort, the clinical symptoms of the eight Lowe syndrome individuals varied. One patient was diagnosed with Lowe syndrome but did not present with congenital cataracts. Common features among all patients included cognitive impairment, short stature, and low molecular weight proteinuria. Eight variations in the OCRL gene were identified, encompassing three previously reported and five novel variations. Among the novel variations, three nonsense mutations were determined to be pathogenic, and two patients harboring novel missense variations of uncertain significance exhibited severe typical phenotypes. Furthermore, all novel variants were associated with altered protein expression levels and impacted primary cilia formation.
CONCLUSIONS: This study describes the first case of an atypical Lowe syndrome patient without congenital cataracts in China and performs a functional analysis of novel variants in the OCRL gene, thereby expanding the understanding of the clinical manifestations and genetic diversity associated with Lowe syndrome.

Lowe syndrome, a rare X-linked multisystem disorder presenting with major abnormalities in the eyes, kidneys, and central nervous system, is caused by mutations in OCRL gene (NG_008638.1). Encoding an inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase, OCRL catalyzes the hydrolysis of PI(4,5)P2 into PI4P. There are no effective targeted treatments for Lowe syndrome. Here, we demonstrate a novel gene therapy for Lowe syndrome in patient fibroblasts using an adenine base editor (ABE) that can efficiently correct pathogenic point mutations. We show that ABE8e-NG-based correction of a disease-causing mutation in a Lowe patient-derived fibroblast line containing R844X mutation in OCRL gene, restores OCRL expression at mRNA and protein levels. It also restores cellular abnormalities that are hallmarks of OCRL dysfunction, including defects in ciliogenesis, microtubule anchoring, α-actinin distribution, and F-actin network. The study indicates that ABE-mediated gene therapy is a feasible treatment for Lowe syndrome, laying the foundation for therapeutic application of ABE in the currently incurable disease.

This study aimed to identify an orcl1 mutation in a patient with Dent-2 Disease and investigate the underlying mechanisms.
The ocrl1 mutation was identified through exome sequencing. Knockdown of orcl1 and overexpression of the orcl1 mutant were performed in HK-2 and MPC5 cells to study its function, while flow cytometry measured reactive oxygen species (ROS), phosphatidylserine levels, and cell apoptosis. Scanning electron microscopy observed crystal adhesion, while transmission electron microscopy examined kidney tissue pathology. Laser scanning confocal microscopy was used to examine endocytosis, and immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence assays detected protein expression. Additionally, podocyte-specific orcl1 knockout mice were generated to investigate the role of orcl1 in vivo.
We identified a mutation resulting in the replacement of Histidine with Arginine at position 318 (R318H) in ocrl1 in the proband. orcl1 was widely expressed in the kidney. In vitro experiments showed that knockdown of orcl1 and overexpression of ocrl1 mutant increased ROS, phosphatidylserine exocytosis, crystal adhesion, and cell apoptosis in HK-2 cells. Knockdown of orcl1 in podocytes reduced endocytosis and disrupted the cell cycle while increasing cell migration. In vivo studies in mice showed that conditional deletion of orcl1 in podocytes caused glomerular dysfunction, including proteinuria and fibrosis.
This study identified an R318H mutation in orcl1 in a patient with Dent-2 Disease. This mutation may contribute to renal injury by promoting ROS production and inducing cell apoptosis in tubular cells, while disrupting endocytosis and the cell cycle, and promoting cell migration of podocytes. Video Abstract.

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is one of the deadliest and most aggressive hematological malignancies, but its pathological mechanism in controlling cell survival is not fully understood. Oculocerebrorenal syndrome of Lowe is a rare X-linked recessive disorder characterized by cataracts, intellectual disability, and proteinuria. This disease has been shown to be caused by mutation of oculocerebrorenal syndrome of Lowe 1 (OCRL1; OCRL), encoding a phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2] 5-phosphatase involved in regulating membrane trafficking; however, its function in cancer cells is unclear. Here, we uncovered that OCRL1 is overexpressed in T-ALL cells, and knockdown of OCRL1 results in cell death, indicating the essential role of OCRL in controlling T-ALL cell survival. We show OCRL is primarily localized in the Golgi and can translocate to plasma membrane (PM) upon ligand stimulation. We found OCRL interacts with oxysterol-binding protein-related protein 4L, which facilitates OCRL translocation from the Golgi to the PM upon cluster of differentiation 3 stimulation. Thus, OCRL represses the activity of oxysterol-binding protein-related protein 4L to prevent excessive PI(4,5)P2 hydrolysis by phosphoinositide phospholipase C β3 and uncontrolled Ca2+ release from the endoplasmic reticulum. We propose OCRL1 deletion leads to accumulation of PI(4,5)P2 in the PM, disrupting the normal Ca2+ oscillation pattern in the cytosol and leading to mitochondrial Ca2+ overloading, ultimately causing T-ALL cell mitochondrial dysfunction and cell death. These results highlight a critical role for OCRL in maintaining moderate PI(4,5)P2 availability in T-ALL cells. Our findings also raise the possibility of targeting OCRL1 to treat T-ALL disease.

Both Lowe syndrome and Dent-2 disease are caused by variants in the OCRL gene. However, the reason why patients with similar OCRL gene mutations presented with different phenotypes remains uncertain.
Children with hemizygous pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in OCRL were compiled from published and unpublished consecutive cases from China. Furthermore, a Chi-square test was employed to analyze the correlation of the location and types of mutations on the phenotype of children with Lowe syndrome or Dent-2 disease.
Among the total 83 patients, 70.8% (34/48) cases of Lowe syndrome presented with truncating mutations, while only 31.4% (11/35) cases of Dent-2 disease presented with truncating mutation (Χ2 = 12.662; P < 0.001). Meanwhile, the majority of mutations in Dent-2 disease are located in Exon 2-12 (21/35, 60.0%), while the majority of mutations in Lowe syndrome are located in Exon 13-23 (39/48, 81.3%; Χ2 = 14.922; P < 0.001).
Truncating mutations of the OCRL gene were more common in patients with Lowe syndrome than in Dent-2 disease, while mutation is more likely located at exon 2-12 in Dent-2 disease than that in Lowe syndrome. The type and location of mutation are important indicators for the phenotypes in patients with OCRL mutation. This is a large cohort study analyzing the genotype-phenotype correlation in patients with Lowe syndrome and Dent-2 disease in China. Our data may improve the interpretation of new OCRL variants and genetic counseling. Furthermore, a large international study would be necessary to illustrate the genotype-phenotype correlation in patients with OCRL mutations.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genotype-phenotype correlation of a Chinese pedigree affected with Lowe syndrome.
METHODS: Whole exome sequencing (WES) and Sanger sequencing were carried out for the proband and members of his pedigree.
RESULTS: The proband, a 3-year-and-5-month-old male, presented with multiple anomalies including congenital cataract, glaucoma, brain dysplasia, renal dysfunction and cognitive impairment. WES revealed that he has harbored a novel hemizygous missense variant of the OCRL gene, namely NM_000276.3: c.1255T>C (p.Trp419Arg) (GRCh37/hg19), which was derived from his unaffected mother. The same variant was not found in his elder brother who was healthy. The variant was predicted to be pathogenic according to ACMG/AMP guideline. Compared with previously reported cases of Lowe syndrome, our patient has displayed rare features including corpus callosum dysplasia, reduction of white matter, cerebral hypoplasia, laryngomalacia, sebaceous cyst, recurrent eczema, cryptorchidism, hypoglycemia and irritability.
CONCLUSIONS: Above finding has expanded the mutational spectrum of the OCRL gene, enriched clinical features of Lowe syndrome, and enabled genetic counseling for this pedigree.

Oculocerebrorenal syndrome of Lowe is a rare X-linked disorder characterized by congenital cataracts, mental retardation, and proximal tubulopathy. This condition is caused by a mutation of OCRL gene (located at chromosome Xq26.1), which encodes an inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase.
We identified two novel OCRL mutations in two unrelated Chinese boys, each with a severe phenotype of Lowe syndrome. A novel de novo deletion (hemizygous c.659_662delAGGG, p.E220Vfs*29) was present in patient 1 and a novel splicing mutation (hemizygous c.2257-2A > T) that was maternally inherited was present in patient 2. A renal biopsy in patient 2 indicated mild mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis, mild focal mononuclear cells infiltration, and interstitial focal fibrosis. Moreover, renal expression of OCRL-1 protein in patient 2 was significantly reduced compared to a control patient with thin basement membrane disease.
This study reports two novel OCRL variants associated with severe ocular and neurologic deficiency, despite only mild renal dysfunction. Based on our two patients and a literature review, the genotype-phenotype correlation of OCRL mutations with this severe phenotype of Lowe syndrome suggest a possible clustering of missense, deletion, and nonsense mutations in the 5-phosphatase domain and Rho-GAP domain in the Chinese population.

Lowe Syndrome (LS) is a rare X-linked multisystemic disorder syndrome, which can be caused by the gene mutations of OCRL. In present study, the urine cells (UCs) derived from a 12-year-old male LS patient with the hemizygote OCRL gene mutation p.M876N (c.2626dupA) were reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) named WMUi031-A through the commercial Sendai virus reprogramming kit. The pluripotent markers OCT4 and SOX2 can be expressed positively in WMUi031-A, which can be differentiated into three germ layers in vitro as well as maintain a stable karyotype (46, XY).

X-linked Lowe syndrome is a multisystem disorder showing major abnormalities in the eyes, kidneys and central nervous system. OCRL gene, which encodes an inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase, is associated with Lowe syndrome when mutated. Here we report the establishment of SDUBMSi009-A, an induced pluripotent stem cell line derived from patient carrying splicing variant (c. 940-11G>A) of OCRL gene by non-integrative reprogramming technology. The iPSC line showed strong pluripotent characteristics, including expressing pluripotent markers and potential to differentiate into the three germ layers. In the meanwhile, the iPSC line kept a normal male karyotype.

Variants perturbing the normal splicing of pre-mRNA can lead to human diseases. The splice-altering effect and eventual consequence on gene function was sometimes uncertain and hinders a definitive molecular diagnosis.
The impact of four rare intronic variants on splicing was analyzed through reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of mRNA derived from the peripheral blood of patients. The results were compared with in-silico prediction. Potential implication on molecular diagnosis was discussed.
Four rare intronic variants of SLC9A6, DLG3, GAA, and OCRL were identified in patients with suspected disorders, respectively. Although these four variants were all predicted to alter splicing by in-silico tools, RT-PCR analysis of mRNA derived from peripheral blood showed these variants affected splicing in different ways: c.899+3_899+6del of SLC9A6 resulted in one-exon skipping and an out-of-frame transcript; c.905-2A > G of DLG3 resulted in a mix of in-frame transcripts; c.1195-11T > A of GAA resulted in the in-frame insertion of nine nucleotides; c.723-2A > C of OCRL resulted in one-exon skipping and in-frame deletion of 102 nucleotides. The consequence revealed by mRNA analysis is essential for accurate interpretation of pathogenicity.
Four intronic variants all caused aberrant mRNA splicing. For intronic variants with uncertain impact on splicing, mRNA analysis is helpful for ascertainment of alternative splicing and accurate interpretation of pathogenicity.