Novel DDR2 mutation identified by whole exome sequencing in a Moroccan patient with spondylo-meta-epiphyseal dysplasia, short limb-abnormal calcification type

Spondylo-meta-epiphyseal dysplasia (SMED), short limb-abnormal calcification type (SMED, SL-AC), is a very rare autosomal recessive disorder with various skeletal changes characterized by premature calcification leading to severe disproportionate short stature. Twenty-two patients have been reported until now, but only five mutations (four missense and one splice-site) in the conserved sequence encoding the tyrosine kinase domain of the DDR2 gene has been identified. We report here a novel DDR2 missense mutation, c.370C>T (p.Arg124Trp) in a Moroccan girl with SMED, SL-AC, identified by whole exome sequencing. Our study has expanded the mutational spectrum of this rare disease and it has shown that exome sequencing is a powerful and cost-effective tool for the diagnosis of clinically heterogeneous disorders such as SMED.