Genomic newborn screening: ICoNS
Gene: CYP21A2
Gene causes adrenal hyperplasia, congenital, due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency
ClinGen: haploinsufficiency score of 30, high level of evidence
Prevalence SW-CAH and SV-CAH: 1:11,000-1:14,000
Disease pathway: gene important for production of enzyme 21-hydroxylase, which in turn produces cortisol and aldosterone which is important for hormone balance
Presentation in neonatal onset, childhood: poor feeding, vomiting, weight loss or failure to thrive, excessive sleepiness or lethargy, irritability, and diarrhea. In females, ambiguous genitalia.
Treatment: Lifelong glucocorticoid replacement therapy (such as hydrocortisone)
Inheritance: biallelic (recessive), autosomal or pseudoautosomal
Current biochemical screening method for CAH is performed in most countries:
First tier: 17‑hydroxyprogesterone (17‑OHP)
Second tier: steroid profiling/CYP21A2 genotyping
High genotype phenotype correlation as discussed in PMID 23359698
Included (in 2024) in 16/27 gNBS programs, ranks 130 out of 4390
Included in BabyDetect, BabyScreen+,Generation, Beginnings, Puglia, Screen4Care, Nurture,…
Not in Guardian, EarlyCheck, Chen et al. and several commercial panels
Problem: Standard WGS methodologies face challenges in accurately detecting CYP21A2 variants because of homology and population complexity. Therefore, by most gNBS programs the results in this gene are only used in conjunction with 17-OHP levels.
Sources: OtherCreated: 5 Dec 2025, 7:06 a.m. | Last Modified: 5 Dec 2025, 7:09 a.m.
Panel Version: 0.27
Mode of inheritance
BIALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal
Phenotypes
CYP21A2 Adrenal hyperplasia, congenital, due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency
Mode of pathogenicity
Other
gene: CYP21A2 was added gene: CYP21A2 was added to Genomic newborn screening: ICoNS. Sources: Other Mode of inheritance for gene: CYP21A2 was set to BIALLELIC, autosomal or pseudoautosomal Phenotypes for gene: CYP21A2 were set to CYP21A2 Adrenal hyperplasia, congenital, due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency Mode of pathogenicity for gene: CYP21A2 was set to Other Review for gene: CYP21A2 was set to GREEN