Replication of Missense OTOG Gene Variants in a Brazilian Patient with Menière's Disease.

Ménière's Disease (MD) is a chronic inner ear disorder defined by recurring episodes of vertigo, fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, and/or fullness in the ear. Its prevalence varies by region and ethnicity, with scarce epidemiological data in the Brazilian population. Although most MD cases are sporadic, familial MD (FMD) is observed in 5% to 20% of European cases. Through exome sequencing, we have found a rare missense variant in the OTOG gene in a Brazilian individual with MD with probable European ancestry (chr11:17599671C>T), which was previously reported in a Spanish cohort. Two additional rare missense heterozygous OTOG variants were found in the same proband. Splice Site analysis showed that chr11:17599671C>T may lead to substantial changes generating exonic cis regulatory elements, and protein modelling revealed structural changes in the presence of chr11:17599671C>T, chr11:17576581G>C, and chr11:17594108C>T, predicted to highly destabilize the protein structure. The manuscript aims to replicate genes previously reported in a Spanish cohort, and the main finding is that a Brazilian patient with MD also has variants previously reported in familial MD, supporting OTOG as the most frequently mutated gene in MD.