Investigating Seven Recently Identified Genes in 100 Iranian Families with Autosomal Recessive Non-syndromic Hearing Loss

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Hearing loss [HL] is the most common sensory disorder, and affects 1 in 1000 newborns. About 50% of HL is due to genetics and 70% of them are non-syndromic with a recessive pattern of inheritance. Up to now, more than 50 genes have been detected which are responsible for autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss, [ARNSHL]. In Iran, HL is one of the most common disabilities due to consanguineous marriages. The aim was to investigate the prevalence of three new ARHL genes [GJB4, GJC3, and SLITRK6] reported in neighboring countries among Iranian families with ARNSHL.