Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia 3

Research report: Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia 3 (CILD3, DNAH5-related PCD)

2026-10-14
Claude Code MONDO:0012085 Model: claude-haiku-5-5, claude-sonnet-5-5 3 citations Prompt: disease_pathophysiology_research.md 1e7ea4ee817a

I'll start by checking the repo for an existing entry or stub and loading the web tools to verify the gene and identifiers.

I'm pulling the cached abstracts for the key DNAH5 papers so the report's quotes are exact.

Research report: Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia 3 (CILD3, DNAH5-related PCD)

Verification status

Web access was limited in this session: PubMed pages were blocked, and only one search returned usable results. I checked the following against repository sources:

  • MONDO:0012085 is "primary ciliary dyskinesia 3". It is already used in kb/disorders/Primary_Ciliary_Dyskinesia_3.yaml.
  • The causal gene is DNAH5, hgnc:2950. The ClinGen row in kb/genes/ingest/clingen_gene_validity.tsv reads DNAH5 | primary ciliary dyskinesia 3 | MONDO:0012085 | AR | Definitive | 2022-01-07 | Motile Ciliopathy GCEP | CGGV:assertion_4390dba1-012d-4e08-a841-ffc08ebdc737-2022-01-07T190607.723Z.
  • Two papers were read in references_cache/: PMID:11788826 and PMID:16627867. Their quotes below are exact.
  • Search result consistent with the above: OMIM 608644 is PCD caused by DNAH5 mutation. The DNAH5 gene entry is OMIM 603335. This came from secondary sources only, not omim.org.

Everything else is background knowledge and is marked [unverified]. That includes every ontology CURIE except MONDO:0012085 and hgnc:2950. Per repo policy, look each one up before binding it.

A KB entry already exists. It is a minimal stub with only the description, disease_term and parent. This report is intended to enrich it.


1. Disease information

Overview. Primary ciliary dyskinesia 3 is the PCD subtype caused by biallelic loss-of-function variants in DNAH5. DNAH5 encodes an outer dynein arm (ODA) heavy chain of motile cilia. The disease is a motile ciliopathy. It features chronic sino-pulmonary disease from impaired mucociliary clearance, randomized left-right body asymmetry, and male infertility.

Identifiers - MONDO:0012085 (verified in the repo). - OMIM 608644 (CILD3), with the DNAH5 gene entry at 603335. These are consistent across secondary sources but not checked on omim.org. - Parent PCD phenotypic series: OMIM 242650. The Olbrich 2002 abstract (PMID:11788826) cites "PCD, MIM 242650". - Orphanet, ICD-10/11 and MeSH IDs: not verified. The generic Kartagener syndrome / PCD terms would apply.

Synonyms. CILD3; ciliary dyskinesia, primary, 3; DNAH5-related PCD; Kartagener syndrome when situs inversus is present. [unverified]

Data source. This is an aggregated, disease-level description from the literature and databases, not EHR-derived.

2. Etiology

  • Cause: purely genetic. Autosomal recessive biallelic DNAH5 variants. The ClinGen Motile Ciliopathy GCEP classifies the DNAH5–PCD3 relationship as Definitive (verified in the repo).
  • Genetic risk factors: the causal variants only. Modifier genes are not established.
  • Environmental risk and protective factors: none define the disease. Environmental exposures such as tobacco smoke and respiratory infections worsen lung disease but do not cause it.
  • Gene–environment interactions: none established in the sources I could verify.

3. Phenotypes

Frequencies below are qualitative. They are from background knowledge unless a quote is given. [unverified] HPO CURIEs need lookup.

Table (click to expand)
Phenotype Notes Suggested HPO label
Chronic wet cough, recurrent lower respiratory infections Neonatal or childhood onset, very frequent Recurrent respiratory infections; Chronic productive cough
Neonatal respiratory distress Often present in term infants Neonatal respiratory distress
Bronchiectasis Progressive, develops in childhood and adulthood Bronchiectasis
Chronic rhinosinusitis, nasal polyps Very frequent Chronic sinusitis
Recurrent otitis media, conductive hearing loss Childhood Recurrent otitis media; Conductive hearing impairment
Situs inversus totalis About half of patients, from randomized laterality Situs inversus totalis
Heterotaxy, congenital heart disease Minority Heterotaxy
Male infertility (sperm immotility) Frequent Asthenozoospermia
Reduced female fertility; ectopic pregnancy Occasional —

Supporting quote (PMID:11788826): "Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD, MIM 242650) is characterized by recurrent infections of the respiratory tract due to reduced mucociliary clearance and by sperm immobility. Half of the affected offspring have situs inversus (reversed organs), which results from randomization of left-right (LR) asymmetry."

Quality of life: no verified data. Chronic cough and sinus disease are the main burdens.

4. Genetic and molecular information

  • Gene: DNAH5, hgnc:2950, chromosome 5p15.
  • Variants: mostly loss-of-function. Hornef et al. (PMID:16627867) found in 30 families "33 novel (12 nonsense, 8 frameshift, 5 splicing, and 8 missense mutations) and two known DNAH5 mutations."
  • Hotspots: "We observed clustering of mutations within five exons harboring 27 mutant alleles (52%) of the 52 detected mutant alleles."
  • Founder variant: in North America, "6 (32%) of 19 PCD families with DNAH5 mutations from North America carry the novel founder mutation 10815delT."
  • Share of PCD: "In a preselected subpopulation with documented outer dynein arm defects (n = 47), DNAH5 mutations were identified in 53% of patients." DNAH5 is commonly cited as the most frequently mutated PCD gene, at roughly 15–21% of all PCD. This figure comes from a secondary search snippet.
  • Gene identification: Olbrich et al. 2002 (PMID:11788826) reported that "Sequence analysis in individuals with PCD with randomization of LR asymmetry identified mutations resulting in non-functional DNAH5 proteins."
  • Origin: germline.
  • Epigenetic and chromosomal abnormalities: none known. Large deletions and copy-number variants are described in some cases [unverified].
  • Allele frequencies: not checked in gnomAD.

5. Environmental information

No disease-defining environmental factors. Airway pollutants and tobacco smoke are aggravating factors. Infectious agents act as complications, not causes. Common colonizers include Haemophilus influenzae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and nontuberculous mycobacteria [unverified].

6. Mechanism and pathophysiology

Causal chain 1. Biallelic DNAH5 variants, mostly nonsense, frameshift or splice, abolish or truncate the ODA heavy chain. 2. Mutant DNAH5 is absent from the axoneme or mislocalized. Hornef et al. reported "mislocalization of mutant DNAH5 and accumulation at the microtubule organizing centers. Mutant DNAH5 was absent throughout the ciliary axoneme in seven patients." 3. Outer dynein arms fail to assemble. "Electron microscopic analyses in 22 patients with PCD with mutations invariably detected outer dynein arm ciliary defects." 4. Without ODAs, motile cilia beat abnormally or are immotile. Ciliary beat frequency is reduced and the cilia are stiff or immotile [unverified, inferred from mechanism]. 5. Branch A, airway: impaired mucociliary clearance leads to mucus retention, then recurrent infection and inflammation. This leads to bronchiectasis and chronic rhinosinusitis and otitis media. This step is inferred, not directly demonstrated in the verified papers. 6. Branch B, embryonic node: nodal motile cilia fail to generate leftward flow. This leads to randomized left-right asymmetry, with situs inversus in about half of cases. Olbrich et al. state this "results from randomization of left-right (LR) asymmetry." 7. Branch C, reproductive tract: immotile sperm flagella lead to male infertility. Dysfunctional cilia in the fallopian tube and ependyma are proposed to reduce female fertility and to cause rare hydrocephalus [unverified].

Pathway and process details - Axonemal dynein ATPase activity drives microtubule sliding and ciliary beat. - Suggested GO terms, to be verified: cilium movement (GO:0003341), outer dynein arm (GO:0036157), axonemal dynein complex assembly, determination of left/right symmetry. - Suggested CL terms, to be verified: ciliated columnar epithelial cell, respiratory epithelial cell, spermatozoon, node cell. - Omics and immune involvement: not verified.

7. Anatomical structures affected

  • Primary: lower and upper airways (trachea, bronchi, nose, paranasal sinuses), middle ear and Eustachian tube, the embryonic node (laterality), sperm flagella, and the fallopian tube.
  • Secondary: heart and viscera (laterality defects).
  • Subcellular: the ciliary axoneme, specifically the outer dynein arm.
  • Lateralization: symmetric organ disease. Laterality defects are bilateral/global (situs solitus or inversus).

Suggested UBERON terms are lung, bronchus, nasal cavity, paranasal sinus, middle ear, fallopian tube, and sperm flagellum. All need lookup.

8. Temporal development

  • Onset: neonatal or early childhood, often with neonatal respiratory distress and daily wet cough from infancy.
  • Course: chronic and lifelong. Lung function declines slowly. Bronchiectasis develops with age.
  • Remission: none.
  • Staging systems: none established.

9. Inheritance and population

  • Inheritance: autosomal recessive (ClinGen row, verified; HP term for autosomal recessive inheritance, to be looked up).
  • Penetrance: appears complete for the respiratory phenotype. Laterality is variable (about 50% situs inversus).
  • Founder variant: 10815delT in North American families (PMID:16627867).
  • PCD prevalence: roughly 1 in 10,000–20,000 [unverified]. DNAH5-specific prevalence is not verified.
  • Consanguinity: increases the rate of homozygous cases [unverified].
  • Sex ratio: equal for disease. Infertility is more evident in males.

10. Diagnostics

Confirmed from verified sources: transmission electron microscopy shows ODA defects, and immunofluorescence shows DNAH5 mislocalization or absence.

The rest is standard practice and [unverified]: - Nasal nitric oxide, which is very low in PCD. - High-speed video microscopy of ciliary beat. - Genetic testing by PCD gene panel or exome sequencing. DNAH5 is a large gene, so full coding coverage matters. - Chest CT for bronchiectasis and situs. - Semen analysis and audiometry. - Differential diagnosis: cystic fibrosis, immunodeficiency, and other motile ciliopathies. - Screening: none by newborn screening. Situs inversus with neonatal respiratory distress should prompt PCD evaluation.

11. Prognosis

Survival is generally near normal with good care. Lung function declines slowly and bronchiectasis can cause respiratory failure in some patients. Transplantation is rarely needed. I have no verified quantitative survival data for the DNAH5 subtype.

12. Treatment

There are no approved disease-modifying drugs and no verified trial identifiers. Management is supportive and [unverified]: - Airway clearance physiotherapy (NCIT supportive care or physical therapy terms). - Prompt antibiotics for exacerbations, and sometimes prophylactic macrolide. - Vaccination. - ENT care, including hearing aids, with caution about tympanostomy tubes. - Fertility support through ICSI. - Experimental approaches include gene therapy and read-through approaches. These are not clinically established for DNAH5.

13. Prevention

Prevention is limited to genetic counseling, carrier testing and prenatal or preimplantation diagnosis for families with known DNAH5 variants. Tertiary prevention covers vaccination, avoiding smoke, and early treatment of infections. [unverified]

14. Other species

Naturally occurring PCD is known in dogs and other mammals. DNAH5 orthologs are conserved. I did not verify OMIA entries or breed ontology terms.

15. Model organisms

Mouse Dnahc5/Dnah5 mutants have randomized laterality and ciliary defects [unverified; I believe Ibañez-Tallon et al., 2002, PMID:11809718, but I could not retrieve the abstract and the paper was not in the local cache]. Zebrafish and Chlamydomonas ODA models are also used. I did not verify fidelity details.


Suggested next steps for curation

  1. Run just validate-terms on every CURIE above that you decide to bind.
  2. Fetch further references with just fetch-reference. I could not run that command in this session because of a permission prompt.
  3. Curate against GeneReviews "Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia" as the baseline. Check it with just check-genereviews.
  4. Existing PCD research files in research/ (Falcon and Cyberian Codex PCD reports) may cover shared mechanisms.

Sources

Reference Validation

Checked with linkml-reference-validator 0.3.0.

Table (click to expand)
Outcome Count
References checked 3
Resolved 3
Unresolved (possible confabulation) 0
Unverifiable 0
References weighed for topical relevance 3
On topic 2
Off topic 0

All extracted references resolved successfully.

Term Validation

Checked with linkml-term-validator 0.4.5, through the ols: adapter.

Table (click to expand)
Outcome Count
Terms checked 3
Resolved 3
Unresolved (possible confabulation) 0
Obsolete 0
Unverifiable 0
Terms whose name was checked 1
Terms named correctly 0
Terms named as a different term 1

Terms the report names something else

These identifiers resolve, so nothing about them looks wrong, and the ontology calls them something unrelated to what the report calls them. That usually means the identifier is not the one the sentence needs:

  • MONDO:0012085 (4 mentions) - the report calls it "verified in the repo"; MONDO calls it primary ciliary dyskinesia 3