Viv Maloney

Recurrent rearrangements of chromosome 1q21.1 and variable pediatric phenotypes

BACKGROUND Duplications and deletions in the human genome can cause disease or predispose persons to disease. Advances in technologies to detect these changes allow for the routine identification of submicroscopic imbalances in large numbers of patients. METHODS We tested for the presence of microdeletions and microduplications at a specific region of chromosome 1q21.1 in two groups of patients with unexplained mental retardation, autism, or congenital anomalies and in unaffected persons. RESULTS We identified 25 persons with a recurrent 1.35-Mb deletion within 1q21.1 from screening 5218 patients. The microdeletions had arisen de novo in eight patients, were inherited from a mildly affected parent in three patients, were inherited from an apparently unaffected parent in six patients, and were of unknown inheritance in eight patients. The deletion was absent in a series of 4737 control persons (P=1.1x10(-7)). We found considerable variability in the level of phenotypic expression of the microdeletion; phenotypes included mild-to-moderate mental retardation, microcephaly, cardiac abnormalities, and cataracts. The reciprocal duplication was enriched in nine children with mental retardation or autism spectrum disorder and other variable features (P=0.02). We identified three deletions and three duplications of the 1q21.1 region in an independent sample of 788 patients with mental retardation and congenital anomalies. CONCLUSIONS We have identified recurrent molecular lesions that elude syndromic classification and whose disease manifestations must be considered in a broader context of development as opposed to being assigned to a specific disease. Clinical diagnosis in patients with these lesions may be most readily achieved on the basis of genotype rather than phenotype.

Further delineation of the 15q13 microdeletion and duplication syndromes: a clinical spectrum varying from non-pathogenic to a severe outcome

Background: Recurrent 15q13.3 microdeletions were recently identified with identical proximal (BP4) and distal (BP5) breakpoints and associated with mild to moderate mental retardation and epilepsy. Methods: To assess further the clinical implications of this novel 15q13.3 microdeletion syndrome, 18 new probands with a deletion were molecularly and clinically characterised. In addition, we evaluated the characteristics of a family with a more proximal deletion between BP3 and BP4. Finally, four patients with a duplication in the BP3–BP4–BP5 region were included in this study to ascertain the clinical significance of duplications in this region. Results: The 15q13.3 microdeletion in our series was associated with a highly variable intra- and inter-familial phenotype. At least 11 of the 18 deletions identified were inherited. Moreover, 7 of 10 siblings from four different families also had this deletion: one had a mild developmental delay, four had only learning problems during childhood, but functioned well in daily life as adults, whereas the other two had no learning problems at all. In contrast to previous findings, seizures were not a common feature in our series (only 2 of 17 living probands). Three patients with deletions had cardiac defects and deletion of the KLF13 gene, located in the critical region, may contribute to these abnormalities. The limited data from the single family with the more proximal BP3–BP4 deletion suggest this deletion may have little clinical significance. Patients with duplications of the BP3–BP4–BP5 region did not share a recognisable phenotype, but psychiatric disease was noted in 2 of 4 patients. Conclusions: Overall, our findings broaden the phenotypic spectrum associated with 15q13.3 deletions and suggest that, in some individuals, deletion of 15q13.3 is not sufficient to cause disease. The existence of microdeletion syndromes, associated with an unpredictable and variable phenotypic outcome, will pose the clinician with diagnostic difficulties and challenge the commonly used paradigm in the diagnostic setting that aberrations inherited from a phenotypically normal parent are usually without clinical consequences.

Breakpoint Mapping and Array CGH in Translocations: Comparison of a Phenotypically Normal and an Abnormal Cohort

We report the analyses of breakpoints in 31 phenotypically normal and 14 abnormal carriers of balanced translocations. Our study assesses the differences between balanced translocations in normal carriers and those in abnormal carriers, focusing on the presence of genomic imbalances at the breakpoints or elsewhere in the genome, presence of cryptic chromosome rearrangements, and gene disruption. Our hypothesis is that all four features will be associated with phenotypic abnormalities and absent or much less frequent in a normal population. In the normal cohort, we identified neither genomic imbalances at the breakpoints or elsewhere in the genome nor cryptic chromosome rearrangements. In contrast, we identified candidate disease-causing imbalances in 4/14 abnormal patients. These were three breakpoint associated deletions and three deletions unrelated to the breakpoints. All six de novo deletions originated on the paternally inherited chromosome. Additional complexity was also present in one of these cases. Gene disruption by the breakpoints was present in 16/31 phenotypically normal individuals and in 5/14 phenotypically abnormal patients. Our results show that translocations in phenotypically abnormal patients are molecularly distinct from those in normal individuals: the former are more likely to be associated with genomic imbalances at the breakpoints or elsewhere and with chromosomal complexity, whereas the frequency of gene disruption is similar in both normal and abnormal translocation carriers.

8p23.1 duplication syndrome; a novel genomic condition with unexpected complexity revealed by array CGH

The 8p23.1 deletion syndrome is established but not an equivalent duplication syndrome. Here, we report five patients; a de novo prenatal case and two families in which 8p23.1 duplications have been directly transmitted from mothers to children. Dual-colour fluorescent in situ hybridisation, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification analysis and customised oligonucleotide array comparative genomic hybridisation (oaCGH) indicated an ∼3.75 Mb duplication of most of band 8p23.1 between the olfactory receptor/defensin repeats (ORDRs) in all cases. However, oaCGH revealed an additional duplication of 500 kb adjacent to the proximal ORDR in Family 1 and an additional deletion of 3.14 Mb within the Nablus Mask-Like Facial Syndrome region of 8q22.1 in Family 2. Copy number variation at introns 4–5 of the GATA4 gene was also identified. This 8p23.1 duplication syndrome is associated with a characteristic facial phenotype including a prominent forehead and arched eyebrows. Adrenal insufficiency, Tetralogy of Fallot, partial 2/3 syndactyly of the toes and cleft palate in some individuals may be explained by ascertainment bias, incomplete penetrance and/or the presence of the microdeletion in Family 2. The duplication is compatible with normal early childhood development but, although our adult cases live independent lives with varying degrees of support, learning difficulties have been experienced by some family members. We conclude that the 8p23.1 duplication syndrome is a genomic condition with an emerging but variable phenotype that may be under-diagnosed. Our results demonstrate that direct transmission does not distinguish genuine duplications from euchromatic variants and illustrate the power of array CGH to reveal unexpected additional imbalances in affected patients.

Duplications and copy number variants of 8p23.1 are cytogenetically indistinguishable but distinct at the molecular level

It has been proposed that duplications of 8p23.1 are either euchromatic variants of the 8p23.1 defensin domain with no phenotypic consequences or true duplications associated with developmental delay and heart defects. Here, we provide evidence for both alternatives in two new families. A duplication of most of band 8p23.1 (circa 5 Mb) was found in a girl of 8 years with pulmonary stenosis and mild language delay. BAC fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) and multiplex amplifiable probe hybridisation (MAPH) showed that the two copies of the duplicated segment were sited, in an alternating fashion, between three copies of a circa 300–450 kb segment from 8p23.1 distal to REPD. Copy number of the variable 8p23.1 defensin domain was consistent with duplication but within the normal range. Duplication of the GATA-binding protein 4 gene (GATA4) in this patient and others with and without heart defects, suggests it is a dosage-sensitive gene with variable penetrance. A cytogenetically similar duplication of 8p23.1 was found at prenatal diagnosis in a fetus, father and grandmother. There was no duplication using BAC FISH but MAPH showed 11 copies of the 360 kb variable defensin domain which is within the expanded range found in previous euchromatic variant carriers. Semiquantitative FISH (SQ-FISH) was consistent with a simultaneous expansion of the adjacent olfactory receptor repeats. These results distinguish duplications of 8p23.1 with clinically significant consequences from benign copy number variants, which have not yet been associated with qualitative or quantitative traits.

Transmitted duplication of 8p23.1–8p23.2 associated with speech delay, autism and learning difficulties

Duplications of distal 8p with and without significant clinical phenotypes have been reported and are often associated with an unusual degree of structural complexity. Here, we present a duplication of 8p23.1–8p23.2 ascertained in a child with speech delay and a diagnosis of ICD-10 autism. The same duplication was found in his mother who had epilepsy and learning problems. A combination of cytogenetic, FISH, microsatellite, MLPA and oaCGH analysis was used to show that the duplication extended over a minimum of 6.8 Mb between 3 539 893 and 10 323 426 bp. This interval contains 32 novel and 41 known genes, of which only microcephalin (MCPH1) is a plausible candidate gene for autism at present. The distal breakpoint of the duplicated region interrupts the CSMD1 gene in 8p23.2 and the medial breakpoint lies between the MSRA and RP1L1 genes in 8p23.1.An interchromosomal insertion between a normal and polymorphically inverted chromosome 8 is proposed to explain the origin of this duplication. Further mapped imbalances of distal 8p are needed to determine whether the autistic component of the phenotype in this family results from the cumulative imbalance of many genes or dosage imbalance of an individual susceptibility gene.

Copy number changes of the microcephalin 1 gene (MCPH1) in patients with autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represents a set of neurodevelopmental disorders with a strong genetic aetiology. Chromosomal rearrangements have been detected in 5–10% of the patients with ASD, and recent applications of array comparative genomic hybridisation (aCGH) are identifying further candidate regions and genes. In this study, we present four patients who implicate microcephalin 1 (MCPH1) in band 8p23.1 as an ASD susceptibility gene. Patient 1 was a girl with a syndromic form of autistic disorder satisfying the Autism Diagnostic Interview‐Revised (ADI‐R), Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM‐IV) criteria. Oligonucleotide aCGH (oaCGH) showed that she had a classic inv dup del(8)(qter‐> p23.1::p23.1‐> p21.2) containing at least three candidate genes; MCPH1 and DLGAP2 within the 6.9‐Mb terminal deletion and NEF3 within the concomitant 14.1‐Mb duplication. Three further patients with MCPH1 copy number changes were found using single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array analysis in a cohort of 54 families with ASD patients. Our results show that ASD can be a component of the classical inv dup del(8) phenotype and identify changes in copy number of MCPH1 as a susceptibility factor for ASD in the distal short arm of chromosome 8.

8p23.1 duplication syndrome differentiated from copy number variation of the defensin cluster at prenatal diagnosis in four new families

BackgroundThe 8p23.1 duplication syndrome and copy number variation of the 8p23.1 defensin gene cluster are cytogenetically indistinguishable but distinct at the molecular level. To our knowledge, the 8p23.1 duplication syndrome has been described at prenatal diagnosis only once and we report our experience with four further apparent duplications ascertained at prenatal diagnosis.MethodsAdditional material at band 8p23.1 was detected using conventional G-banded cytogenetics in each case. Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) or Fluorescence In Situ Hybridisation (FISH) were used depending on whether only DNA (Cases 1 and 4) or cytogenetic preparations (Cases 2 and 3) were available from the laboratory of origin. The extent of the duplication in Case 1 was retrospectively determined using array Comparative Genomic Hybridisation (array CGH).ResultsThree cases of 8p23.1 duplication syndrome were found (Cases 1 to 3). Two were de novo and continued to term and the third, a paternally transmitted duplication, was terminated because of a previous child with psychomotor delay and 8p23.1 duplication syndrome. Case 1 was ascertained with a hypoplastic left heart but the ventricular septal and interventricular defects, in Cases 2 and 3 respectively, were found after ascertainment for advanced maternal age. By contrast, case 4 was a maternally transmitted copy number variation of the defensin cluster with normal outcome.ConclusionsOur data underline the need to differentiate 8p23.1 duplications from copy number variation of the defensin cluster using FISH, MLPA or array CGH. Cardiac defects were ascertained by ultrasound in only one of the three duplication 8p23.1 pregnancies but were visible in two of the three at 21 to 22 weeks gestation. Our results provide further evidence that both deletion and duplication of the GATA4 transcription factor can give rise to a variety of conotruncal heart defects with variable penetrance and expressivity.

Kabuki syndrome: new ocular findings but no evidence of 8p22-p23.1 duplications in a clinically defined cohort

The underlying cause of the multiple congenital anomalies/mental retardation syndrome Kabuki syndrome (KS, OMIM 147920) has not yet been established. We identified seven patients who fulfilled the classical clinical criteria for this syndrome and undertook a detailed clinical, ophthalomological and molecular cytogenetic review. Three of the seven patients had previously undetected ocular anomalies including myopia, ptosis, strabismus and tilted discs. The identification of preventable causes of loss of vision underlines the value of detailed ophthalmologic examination of KS patients. Using BAC fluorescence in situ hybridisation, there was no evidence of the duplication of 8p recently reported by Milunsky and Huang. We conclude that the cause of KS has yet to be established.

16p11.2–p12.2 duplication syndrome; a genomic condition differentiated from euchromatic variation of 16p11.2

Chromosome 16 contains multiple copy number variations (CNVs) that predispose to genomic disorders. Here, we differentiate pathogenic duplications of 16p11.2–p12.2 from microscopically similar euchromatic variants of 16p11.2. Patient 1 was a girl of 18 with autism, moderate intellectual disability, behavioural difficulties, dysmorphic features and a 7.71-Mb (megabase pair) duplication (16:21 521 005–29 233 146). Patient 2 had a 7.81-Mb duplication (16:21 382 561–29 191 527), speech delay and obsessional behaviour as a boy and, as an adult, short stature, macrocephaly and mild dysmorphism. The duplications contain 65 coding genes of which Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) has the highest likelihood of being haploinsufficient and, by implication, a triplosensitive gene. An additional 1.11-Mb CNV of 10q11.21 in Patient 1 was a possible modifier containing the G-protein-regulated inducer of neurite growth 2 (GPRIN2) gene. In contrast, the euchromatic variants in Patients 3 and 4 were amplifications from a 945-kb region containing non-functional immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGHV), hect domain pseudogene (HERC2P4) and TP53-inducible target gene 3 (TP53TG3) loci in proximal 16p11.2 (16:31 953 353–32 898 635). Paralogous pyrosequencing gave a total copy number of 3–8 in controls and 8 to >10 in Patients 3 and 4. The 16p11.2–p12.2 duplication syndrome is a recurrent genomic disorder with a variable phenotype including developmental delay, dysmorphic features, mild to severe intellectual disability, autism, obsessive or stereotyped behaviour, short stature and anomalies of the hands and fingers. It is important to differentiate pathogenic 16p11.2–p12.2 duplications from harmless, microscopically similar euchromatic variants of proximal 16p11.2, especially at prenatal diagnosis.