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. 2024 Mar 29;10(2):28.
doi: 10.3390/ijns10020028.

Newborn Screening for Inborn Errors of Metabolism by Next-Generation Sequencing Combined with Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Affiliations

Newborn Screening for Inborn Errors of Metabolism by Next-Generation Sequencing Combined with Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Chengfang Tang et al. Int J Neonatal Screen. .

Abstract

The aim of this study was to observe the outcomes of newborn screening (NBS) in a certain population by using next-generation sequencing (NGS) as a first-tier screening test combined with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). We performed a multicenter study of 29,601 newborns from eight screening centers with NBS via NGS combined with MS/MS. A custom-designed panel targeting the coding region of the 142 genes of 128 inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) was applied as a first-tier screening test, and expanded NBS using MS/MS was executed simultaneously. In total, 52 genes associated with the 38 IEMs screened by MS/MS were analyzed. The NBS performance of these two methods was analyzed and compared respectively. A total of 23 IEMs were diagnosed via NGS combined with MS/MS. The incidence of IEMs was approximately 1 in 1287. Within separate statistical analyses, the positive predictive value (PPV) for MS/MS was 5.29%, and the sensitivity was 91.3%. However, for genetic screening alone, the PPV for NGS was 70.83%, with 73.91% sensitivity. The three most common IEMs were methylmalonic academia (MMA), primary carnitine deficiency (PCD) and phenylketonuria (PKU). The five genes with the most common carrier frequencies were PAH (1:42), PRODH (1:51), MMACHC (1:52), SLC25A13 (1:55) and SLC22A5 (1:63). Our study showed that NBS combined with NGS and MS/MS improves the performance of screening methods, optimizes the process, and provides accurate diagnoses.

Keywords: inborn errors of metabolism; newborn screening; next-generation sequencing; tandem mass spectrometry.

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Conflict of interest statement

No financial or non-financial benefits have been received or will be received from any party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. The funder had no role in the design of the study or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The top ten of four genes’ variants in normal population and geographical distribution in this multicenter study. (a) The top ten PAH gene variants. (b) The top ten MMACHC gene variants. (c) The top ten SLC 25A13 gene variants. (d) The top ten SLC22A5 gene variants.

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