Genome-Wide Copy Number Analysis Uncovers a New HSCR Gene: NRG3

Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) is a congenital disorder characterized by aganglionosis of the distal intestine. To assess the contribution of copy number variants (CNVs) to HSCR, we analysed the data generated from our previous genome-wide association study on HSCR patients, whereby we identified NRG1 as a new HSCR susceptibility locus. Analysis of 129 Chinese patients and 331 ethnically matched controls showed that HSCR patients have a greater burden of rare CNVs (p = 1.50×10(−5)), particularly for those encompassing genes (p = 5.00×10(−6)). Our study identified 246 rare-genic CNVs exclusive to patients. Among those, we detected a NRG3 deletion (p = 1.64×10(−3)). Subsequent follow-up (96 additional patients and 220 controls) on NRG3 revealed 9 deletions (combined p = 3.36×10(−5)) and 2 de novo duplications among patients and two deletions among controls. Importantly, NRG3 is a paralog of NRG1. Stratification of patients by presence/absence of HSCR–associated syndromes showed that while syndromic–HSCR patients carried significantly longer CNVs than the non-syndromic or controls (p = 1.50×10(−5)), non-syndromic patients were enriched in CNV number when compared to controls (p = 4.00×10(−6)) or the syndromic counterpart. Our results suggest a role for NRG3 in HSCR etiology and provide insights into the relative contribution of structural variants in both syndromic and non-syndromic HSCR. This would be the first genome-wide catalog of copy number variants identified in HSCR.