Newborn screening and single nucleotide variation profiling of TSHR, TPO, TG and DUOX2 candidate genes for congenital hypothyroidism

High prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) among Indian newborns prompted us to establish population-specific reference ranges of TSH and to explore the contribution of the common genetic variants in TSHR, TPO, TG and DUOX2 genes towards CH. A total of 1144 newborns (593 males and 551 females) were screened for CH. SNV profiling (n = 22) spanning three candidate genes, i.e. TSHR, TPO and TG was carried out in confirmed CH cases (n = 45). In screen negative cases (n = 700), ten TSHR variants were explored to establish association with CH. No mutation found in DUOX2. The 2.5th to 97.5th percentiles of TSH in these newborns were 0.5 to 12.2 mU/L. In newborns with optimal birth weight, the cut-off was 10 mU/L. Lower or higher birth weight resulted in slightly higher TSH. Two TSHR variants, i.e. rs7144481 and rs17630128 were associated with agenesis, hypoplasia and goiter. The rs2268477 was associated with agenesis and hypoplasia. The rs1991517, rs2075176 and rs2241119 were associated with agenesis only. The rs7144481, rs17630128, rs1991517 and rs2268477 were associated with 2.17, 4.62, 2.91 and 2.29-fold increased risk for CH, respectively. Among the TPO variants, rs867983 and rs2175977 were associated with agenesis and goiter, respectively. Among the TG variants, rs2076740 showed association with agenesis and goiter. Two rare variants i.e. TPO g.IVS14-19 G>C and TG c.1262 C>T were observed in CH cases. No genetic variant identified in the two exons of DUOX2. To conclude, the current study established Indian population-specific normative values for TSH and demonstrates specific genotype–phenotype correlations among three candidate genes.