Gene Mutation and Rescue in Human Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH)

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a common and severe birth defect characterized by structural defects of the diaphragm and by pulmonary hypoplasia. Congenital diaphragmatic hernia patient may present either as an isolated phenotype or together with other congenital anomalies in a complex phenotype. Despite the clinical significance of CDH, the underlying genetic and developmental pathways are incompletely understood. In order to establish a catalog of human genetic variation for this condition, we performed whole exome sequencing (WES) on 275 carefully phenotyped individuals with CDH in the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA, USA) and Boston Children''s Hospital (Boston, MA, USA). The exome data generated are valuable for comparison of candidate genes derived from WES of other CDH cohorts or affected kindreds, and to provide ideal candidates for further functional studies with the ultimate... (for more see dbGaP study page.)