Integrating Prenatal Exome Sequencing and Ultrasonographic Fetal Phenotyping for Assessment of Congenital Malformations: High Molecular Diagnostic Yield and Novel Phenotypic Expansions in a Consanguineous Cohort

Abstract

To evaluate the diagnostic yield of prenatal exome sequencing (pES) in fetuses with structural anomalies detected by prenatal ultrasound in a consanguineous population. This was a prospective study of 244 anomalous fetuses from unrelated consanguineous Egyptian families. Detailed phenotyping was performed throughout pregnancy and postnatally, and pES data analysis was conducted. Genetic variants were prioritized based on the correlation of their corresponding human phenotype ontology terms with the ultrasound findings. Analyses were carried out to determine the diagnostic efficiency of pES and its correlation to the organ systems involved. The largest clinical category of fetuses referred for pES was those manifesting multisystem anomalies (104/244, 42.6%). pES provided a definitive diagnosis explaining the fetal anomalies in 47.1% (115/244) of the cases, with the identification of 122 pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants completely fitting with the phenotype. Variants of uncertain significance associated with the fetal phenotypes were detected in 84 fetuses (34%), while 18.44% (45/244) had negative results. Positive consanguinity is associated with a high diagnostic yield of ES. The novel variants and new fetal manifestations, described in our cohort, further expand the mutational and phenotypic spectrum of a wide variety of genetic disorders presenting with congenital malformations.