RESUMO
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disease, caused by mutations in the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Regulator gene (CFTR). The most frequent mutation in CF is ΔF508. The disease is clinically characterized by elevated concentrations of sweat chlorides and abnormally thick mucus. It affects organs such as lung, pancreas, gastrointestinal and reproductive tract. Women with CF commonly present delayed puberty and amenorrhea due to malnutrition. Our objective was to screen the presence of ΔF508 mutation in 24 women with altered fertility. Nine of these women presented reduced fertility without a known cause, four showed polycystic ovaries and two had early menopause. One woman with early menopause was a carrier of the ΔF508 mutation. Our study demonstrates that it is possible that the frequency of CF mutations among patients with altered fertility may be higher than expected. Previous data showed that fibrocystic women can show reduced fertility, maternal mortality associated with pregnancy and increased incidence of spontaneous abortion. We therefore recommend that women with reduced fertility undertake genetic tests for a better evaluation of pregnancy risks and clinical monitoring.
Assuntos
Regulador de Condutância Transmembrana em Fibrose Cística/genética , Fibrose Cística/genética , Fertilidade/genética , Testes Genéticos , Mutação/genética , Adulto , Brasil , Feminino , Humanos , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase , GravidezRESUMO
In the present study, we report on the case of a 43-year-old male patient seeking for fertility assistance, who showed a seminal analysis and testicular biopsy of complete azoospermia. Peripheral blood culture for chromosome studies revealed a karyotype of 46 chromosomes with a ring-Y-chromosome that lost the long arm heterochromatin. Molecular analysis of genomic DNA from the patient detected the presence of the sex-determining region of the Y-chromosome (SRY) but the complete absence of regions involved in spermatogenesis (AZFa, AZFb, AZFc). Several molecular markers distributed along the Y-chromosome were tested through PCR amplification, and a breakpoint was established close to the centromere, predicting the deletion of the growth control region, in agreement with the short stature observed in this patient. All results obtained through molecular cytogenetic characterization are in accordance with the clinical features observed in this patient.
Assuntos
Azoospermia/genética , Cromossomos Humanos Y/genética , Cromossomos em Anel , Aberrações dos Cromossomos Sexuais , Adulto , Análise Citogenética , DNA/análise , Marcadores Genéticos/genética , Humanos , Masculino , Reação em Cadeia da PolimeraseRESUMO
In the present study, we report on the case of a 43-year-old male patient seeking for fertility assistance, who showed a seminal analysis and testicular biopsy of complete azoospermia. Peripheral blood culture for chromosome studies revealed a karyotype of 46 chromosomes with a ring-Y-chromosome that lost the long arm heterochromatin. Molecular analysis of genomic DNA from the patient detected the presence of the sex-determining region of the Y-chromosome (SRY) but the complete absence of regions involved in spermatogenesis (AZFa, AZFb, AZFc). Several molecular markers distributed along the Y-chromosome were tested through PCR amplification, and a breakpoint was established close to the centromere, predicting the deletion of the growth control region, in agreement with the short stature observed in this patient. All results obtained through molecular cytogenetic characterization are in accordance with the clinical features observed in this patient.
Assuntos
Humanos , Masculino , Adulto , Azoospermia/genética , Cromossomos Humanos Y/genética , Cromossomos em Anel , Aberrações dos Cromossomos Sexuais , DNA , Análise Citogenética , Marcadores Genéticos/genética , Reação em Cadeia da PolimeraseRESUMO
Established cell lines have long been used for in vitro studies of tumor biology, enabling investigators to control growth conditions and to draw important conclusions about the oncogenic microenvironment. However, gene expression behavior in cultured cells may not always reflect the actual in vivo scenario, and analysis derived from such experiments should take into consideration the existing differences between the two environments. We used suppression subtractive hybridization to study transcriptional changes elicited after oncogene transformation and cell line establishment. We found that transcriptional changes elicited in cultured cell lines are in fact representative of late events, and they do not occur early after oncogene transfection or activation. We also determined that a fraction of the transcriptional changes is oncogene specific, whereas other changes are shared between two or more different oncogenes.