Autosomal recessive childhood-onset severe retinal dystrophy is a heterogeneous group of disorders affecting rod and cone photoreceptors simultaneously. The most severe cases are termed Leber congenital amaurosis, whereas the less aggressive forms are usually considered retinitis pigmentosa (Gu et al., 1997). SPATA7-associated retinopathy shows a variable age at onset, ranging from infancy to adulthood, as well as phenotypic variability, including intrafamilial differences (Wang et al., 2009; Avila-Fernandez et al., 2011; Feldhaus et al., 2018; Sengillo et al., 2018).
Mackay et al. (2011) concluded that SPATA7 retinopathy is an infantile-onset severe cone-rod dystrophy with early extensive peripheral retinal atrophy but with variable foveal involvement.
For a general phenotypic description and a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of Leber congenital amaurosis, see LCA1 (204000); for retinitis pigmentosa, see 268000.
Reviews
Kannabiran (2020) reviewed reported SPATA7 mutations and the associated phenotypes. The author noted that there were no clear-cut correlations between genotype and phenotype, and that phenotypic heterogeneity had been observed among patients with the same mutation. Clinical variability was also often seen in patients with SPATA7 mutations, with some phenotypes resembling cone-rod dystrophy or choroideremia. [from
OMIM]