First observation of secondary childhood glaucoma in Coffin-Siris syndrome: a case report and literature review

BACKGROUND: Severe congenital ophthalmological malformations and glaucoma might be an important occasional feature in patients with Coffin-Siris syndrome (CSS), especially Coffin-Siris syndrome 9 (CSS9, OMIM #615866) caused by SOX11 mutation. Recently, primary (open-angle) glaucoma was described in two children with the most common form of Coffin-Siris syndrome, CSS1 (OMIM #135900) by ARID1B (AT-rich interaction domain-containing protein 1B) gene mutation. In this article, we present the first report of glaucoma with Coffin-Siris syndrome 9 as well as the first report of secondary glaucoma with any form of Coffin-Siris syndrome. These findings indicate that secondary glaucoma is an occasional finding in patients with Coffin-Siris syndrome. CASE PRESENTATION: A child with secondary childhood glaucoma and additional ocular manifestations was evaluated and treated at the childhood glaucoma centre in Mainz, Germany. Examination under general anaesthesia revealed ocular anterior segment dysgenesis (ASD) (Peters type iridocorneal dysgenesis) in combination with congenital limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD), aniridia, and cataract. The patient also had multiple other congenital anomalies and severe developmental delay. To explain his combination of anomalies, molecular genetic analysis from peripheral blood was performed in late 2018 and early 2019. Following normal findings with a panel diagnostic of 18 genes associated with congenital glaucoma, whole exome sequencing was performed and revealed a novel likely pathogenic heterozygous variant c.251G>T, p.(Gly84Val) in the SOX11 gene (SRY-related HMG-box gene 11). The variant had occurred de novo. Thus, the multiple congenital anomalies and developmental delay of the patient represented Coffin-Siris syndrome 9 (CSS9, OMIM #615866). CONCLUSIONS: When eye diseases occur in combination with other systemic features, genetic analysis can be seminal. Results indicate that glaucoma is an occasional feature of patients with Coffin-Siris syndrome. As early treatment may improve the visual outcome of patients with glaucoma, we suggest that patients with Coffin-Siris syndrome should receive specific ophthalmological screening. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12886-020-01788-0.