HEXB

Chr 5AR

hexosaminidase subunit beta

Also known as: ENC-1AS, HEL-248, HEL-S-111

Hexosaminidase B is the beta subunit of the lysosomal enzyme beta-hexosaminidase that, together with the cofactor GM2 activator protein, catalyzes the degradation of the ganglioside GM2, and other molecules containing terminal N-acetyl hexosamines. Beta-hexosaminidase is composed of two subunits, alpha and beta, which are encoded by separate genes. Both beta-hexosaminidase alpha and beta subunits are members of family 20 of glycosyl hydrolases. Mutations in the alpha or beta subunit genes lead to an accumulation of GM2 ganglioside in neurons and neurodegenerative disorders termed the GM2 gangliosidoses. Beta subunit gene mutations lead to Sandhoff disease (GM2-gangliosidosis type II). Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, May 2014]

Primary Disease Associations & Inheritance

Sandhoff disease, infantile, juvenile, and adult formsMIM #268800
AR
UniProtGM2-gangliosidosis 2
635
ClinVar variants
143
Pathogenic / LP
0.00
pLI score
1
Active trials
Clinical SummaryHEXB
🧬
Gene-Disease Validity (ClinGen)
Sandhoff disease · ARDefinitive

Definitive — sufficient evidence for diagnostic panels

Population Constraint (gnomAD)
Low constraint (pLI 0.00) — loss-of-function variants are relatively tolerated in the population.
📋
ClinVar Variants
143 Pathogenic / Likely Pathogenic· 185 VUS of 635 total submissions
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Clinical Trials
1 active or recruiting trial — potential therapeutic options may be available

Population Genetics & Constraint

gnomAD v4 — loss-of-function & missense intolerance

Tolerant — LoF & missense variants common in population
LoF Constraint?LOEUF (Loss-of-function Observed/Expected Upper bound Fraction) is the upper bound of the 90% CI for LoF OE — the preferred gnomAD v4 metric. Lower = more intolerant to LoF. LOEUF < 0.35 = highly constrained.
0.92LOEUF
pLI 0.000
Z-score 1.93
OE 0.63 (0.440.92)
Tolerant

Typical tolerance to LoF variation

Missense Constraint?Missense Z-score: standard deviations fewer missense variants observed vs. expected. Z > 3.09 (p < 0.001) = gene does not tolerate missense variation. OE missense < 0.6 is also considered constrained.
0.65Z-score
OE missense 0.89 (0.810.99)
260 obs / 291.1 exp
Tolerant

Mild missense constraint

Observed / Expected Ratios?Shaded band = 90% confidence interval. Vertical tick = point estimate. Grey threshold line = gnomAD constraint cutoff for that variant class.
LoF OE?Ratio of observed to expected LoF variants. Upper CI bound (LOEUF) ≤ 0.35 = strong LoF constraint signal.0.63 (0.440.92)
00.351.4
Missense OE?Ratio of observed to expected missense variants. OE ≤ 0.6 = fewer missense variants than expected by chance.0.89 (0.810.99)
00.61.4
Synonymous OE?Control metric — synonymous variants are largely neutral and expected near OE = 1.0. Significant deviation may indicate annotation issues.1.03
01.21.6
LoF obs/exp: 20 / 31.7Missense obs/exp: 260 / 291.1Syn Z: -0.26

ClinVar Variant Classifications

635 submitted variants in ClinVar

Classification Summary

Pathogenic82
Likely Pathogenic61
VUS185
Likely Benign254
Benign31
Conflicting22
82
Pathogenic
61
Likely Pathogenic
185
VUS
254
Likely Benign
31
Benign
22
Conflicting

Curated Variants Distribution

Classified variants from ClinVar · 5 ACMG categories

ClassificationLoFMissense + InframeNon-codingSynonymousTotal
Pathogenic
41
3
38
0
82
Likely Pathogenic
27
15
19
0
61
VUS
1
153
22
9
185
Likely Benign
1
6
100
147
254
Benign
0
4
27
0
31
Conflicting
22
Total70181206156635

LoF = frameshift, stop gained/lost, canonical splice · Counts from ClinVar esearch · Updated hourly

View in ClinVar →

Protein Context — Lollipop Plot

HEXB · protein map & ClinVar variants

Showing all ClinVar variants across the protein. Search a specific variant to highlight its position.

Gene2Phenotype Curations

HEXB-related GM2-gangliosidosis

definitive
ARLoss Of FunctionAbsent Gene Product
Dev. Disorders
G2P ↗

Gene2Phenotype curations · DECIPHER consortium patient cohort (public variants) · deciphergenomics.org

OMIM — Genotype-Phenotype Relationships

1 OMIM entry

HEXOSAMINIDASE B; HEXB
MIM #606873 · *

Sandhoff disease, infantile, juvenile, and adult forms

MIM #268800

Molecular basis of disorder known

Autosomal recessive
📖
GeneReview available — HEXB
Authoritative clinical overview · NCBI Bookshelf · Recommended first read
Open GeneReview ↗
Clinical Literature
Landmark / reviewRecent case evidence
Key Publications
Landmark & review papers · by relevance
PubMed
Top 10 resultsSearch PubMed ↗