A Roma founder BIN1 mutation causes a novel phenotype of centronuclear myopathy with rigid spine

ObjectiveTo describe a large series of BIN1 patients, in which a novel founder mutation in the Roma population of southern Spain has been identified.MethodsPatients diagnosed with centronuclear myopathy (CNM) at 5 major reference centers for neuromuscular disease in Spain (n = 53) were screened for BIN1 mutations. Clinical, histologic, radiologic, and genetic features were analyzed.ResultsEighteen patients from 13 families carried the p.Arg234Cys variant; 16 of them were homozygous for it and 2 had compound heterozygous p.Arg234Cys/p.Arg145Cys mutations. Both BIN1 variants have only been identified in Roma, causing 100% of CNM in this ethnic group in our cohort. The haplotype analysis confi…