Rouan et al. (2001) studied the effects of variant p.Trp44Cys in paired Xenopus oocytes, along with other Cx26 mutants identified in individuals with hearing loss and palmoplantar keratoderma, on gap junctional intercellular communication. The gene discussed is GJB2; the disease is epidermolytic palmoplantar keratoderma, 1.