Phenotypic and mutational spectrum of ROR2-related Robinow syndrome.

Robinow syndrome is characterized by a triad of craniofacial dysmorphisms, disproportionate-limb short stature, and genital hypoplasia. A significant degree of phenotypic variability seems to correlate with different genes/loci. Disturbances of the noncanonical WNT-pathway have been identified as the main cause of the syndrome. Biallelic variants in ROR2 cause an autosomal recessive form of the syndrome with distinctive skeletal findings. Twenty-two patients with a clinical diagnosis of autosomal recessive Robinow syndrome were screened for variants in ROR2 using multiple molecular approaches. We identified 25 putatively pathogenic ROR2 variants, 16 novel, including single nucleotide variants and exonic deletions. Detailed phenotypic analyses revealed that all subjects presented with a prominent forehead, hypertelorism, short nose, abnormality of the nasal tip, brachydactyly, mesomelic limb shortening, short stature, and genital hypoplasia in male patients. A total of 19 clinical features were present in more than 75% of the subjects, thus pointing to an overall uniformity of the phenotype. Disease-causing variants in ROR2, contribute to a clinically recognizable autosomal recessive trait phenotype with multiple skeletal defects. A comprehensive quantitative clinical evaluation of this cohort delineated the phenotypic spectrum of ROR2-related Robinow syndrome. The identification of exonic deletion variant alleles further supports the contention of a loss-of-function mechanism in the etiology of the syndrome.

SHORT syndrome in an adult Brazilian patient.

We report an individual from Brazil with SHORT syndrome. The term SHORT stands for its common characteristics: short stature (S), hyperextensibility of joints, and/or inguinal hernia (H), ocular depression (O), Rieger anomaly (R), and teething delay (T). In addition to most of the clinical signs previously described in SHORT syndrome, the patient presented here also shows microcephaly and intellectual disability. Diagnosis was confirmed by exome sequencing revealing a novel heterozygous variant c.1456G>A (p.Ala486Thr) at PIK3R1. Human recombinant growth hormone (r-hGH) therapy was administered prior to diagnosis; however, the use of r-hGH may have had a role in anticipating and worsening the glucose metabolic profile in the patient, as previously described. This article contributes to providing a better understanding of the SHORT syndrome genotype and its correlation with the phenotype, by comparing with it other reported cases.

Concurrent Loss of Heterozygosity and Mosaic Deletion of 12p13.32pter.

Deletions in the short arm of chromosome 12 are the rarest subtelomeric imbalances. Less than 20 patients have been reported to date, and their microdeletions were identified either by FISH or array-CGH without SNP data. Here, we report a patient with a 12p13.32pter mosaic deletion detected by chromosome microarray analysis with loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of the deleted segment in addition to the adjacent distal segment. LOH is indicative of a complex rearrangement, suggestive of mitotic microhomology-mediated break-induced replication.

Syndromic hearing loss molecular diagnosis: Application of massive parallel sequencing.

Syndromic hearing loss accounts for approximately 30% of all cases of hearing loss due to genetic causes. Mutation screening in known genes is important because it potentially sheds light on the genetic etiology of hearing loss and helps in genetic counseling of families. In this study, we describe a customized Ion AmpliSeq Panel, specifically designed for the investigation of syndromic hearing loss. The Ion AmpliSeq Panel was customized to cover the coding sequences of 52 genes. Twenty-four patients were recruited: 17 patients with a clinical diagnosis of a known syndrome, and seven whose clinical signs did not allow identification of a syndrome. Of 24 patients sequenced, potentially causative mutations were found in nine, all of which belonged to the group with a previous clinical diagnostic and none in the group not clinically diagnosed. We were able to provide conclusive molecular diagnosis to six patients, constituting a diagnostic rate of 25% (6/24). In the group of patients with a suspected clinical diagnosis, the diagnostic rate was 35% (6/17). Of the nine different mutations identified, three are novel, and were found in patients with Waardenburg, Treacher Collins and CHARGE syndromes. Since all patients with a conclusive molecular diagnosis through this panel had a previous suspected clinical diagnosis, our results suggest that this panel was more effective in diagnosing this group of patients. Therefore, the panel demonstrated effectiveness in molecular diagnosis when compared to others in the literature, especially for patients with a defined clinical diagnosis.

Partial 1q Duplications and Associated Phenotype.

Duplications of the long arm of chromosome 1 are rare. Distal duplications are the most common and have been reported as either pure trisomy or unbalanced translocations. The paucity of cases with pure distal 1q duplications has made it difficult to delineate a partial distal trisomy 1q syndrome. Here, we report 2 patients with overlapping 1q duplications detected by G-banding. Array CGH and FISH were performed to characterize the duplicated segments, exclude the involvement of other chromosomes and determine the orientation of the duplication. Patient 1 presents with a mild phenotype and carries a 22.5-Mb 1q41q43 duplication. Patient 2 presents with a pure 1q42.13qter inverted duplication of 21.5 Mb, one of the smallest distal 1q duplications ever described and one of the few cases characterized by array CGH, thus contributing to a better characterization of distal 1q duplication syndrome.