Low-level mosaic double trisomy involving trisomy 6 and trisomy 20 (48,XY,+6,+20) at amniocentesis without uniparental disomy (UPD) 6 and UPD 20 in a pregnancy associated with a favorable outcome.

OBJECTIVE: We present low-level mosaic double trisomy involving trisomy 6 and trisomy 20 (48,XY,+6,+20) at amniocentesis without uniparental disomy (UPD) 6 and UPD 20 in a pregnancy associated with a favorable outcome. CASE REPORT: A 38-year-old woman underwent amniocentesis at 17 weeks of gestation because of advanced maternal age. Amniocentesis revealed a karyotype of 48,XY,+6,+20[2]/46,XY[15]. Repeat amniocentesis at 20 weeks of gestation revealed a karyotype of 48,XY,+6,+20[6]/46,XY[43], and simultaneous array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) analysis on the DNA extracted from uncultured amniocytes revealed the result of arr (X,Y) × 1, (1-22) × 2 with no genomic imbalance. At 22 weeks of gestation, the woman underwent cordocentesis which revealed karyotype of 46,XY (60/60 cells). At 26 weeks of gestation, the woman underwent the third amniocentesis which revealed a karyotype of 48,XY,+6,+20[5]/46,XY[30], and simultaneous aCGH analysis on the DNA extracted from uncultured amniocytes revealed the result of arr (1-22) × 2, X × 1, Y × 1 without genomic imbalance. The parental karyotypes and prenatal ultrasound were normal. Polymorphic marker analysis using the DNAs extracted from uncultured amniocytes and parental bloods excluded UPD 6 and UPD 20. Interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis on 100 uncultured amniocytes detected double trisomy 6 and trisomy 20 in 10 cells, consistent with 10% (10/100 cells) mosaicism for double trisomy 6 and trisomy 20. The woman was encouraged to continue the pregnancy, and a phenotypically normal 3328-g male baby was delivered at 38 weeks of gestation. The cord blood, umbilical cord and the placenta had a karyotype of 46,XY (40/40 cells). CONCLUSION: Low-level mosaic double trisomy involving trisomy 6 and trisomy 20 at amniocentesis without UPD 6 and UPD 20 can be associated with a favorable fetal outcome.

Maternal Uniparental Disomy of Chromosome 20 (UPD(20)mat) as Differential Diagnosis of Silver Russell Syndrome: Identification of Three New Cases.

Silver Russell Syndrome (SRS, MIM #180860) is a rare growth retardation disorder in which clinical diagnosis is based on six features: pre- and postnatal growth failure, relative macrocephaly, prominent forehead, body asymmetry, and feeding difficulties (Netchine-Harbison clinical scoring system (NH-CSS)). The molecular mechanisms consist in (epi)genetic deregulations at multiple loci: the loss of methylation (LOM) at the paternal H19/IGF2:IG-DMR (chr11p15.5) (50%) and the maternal uniparental disomy of chromosome 7 (UPD(7)mat) (10%) are the most frequent causes. Thus far, about 40% of SRS remains undiagnosed, pointing to the need to define the rare mechanisms in such a consistent fraction of unsolved patients. Within a cohort of 176 SRS with an NH-CSS ≥ 3, a molecular diagnosis was disclosed in about 45%. Among the remaining patients, we identified in 3 probands (1.7%) with UPD(20)mat (Mulchandani-Bhoj-Conlin syndrome, OMIM #617352), a molecular mechanism deregulating the GNAS locus and described in 21 cases, characterized by severe feeding difficulties associated with failure to thrive, preterm birth, and intrauterine/postnatal growth retardation. Our patients share prominent forehead, feeding difficulties, postnatal growth delay, and advanced maternal age. Their clinical assessment and molecular diagnostic flowchart contribute to better define the characteristics of this rare imprinting disorder and to rank UPD(20)mat as the fourth most common pathogenic molecular defect causative of SRS.

upd(20)mat is a rare cause of the Silver-Russell-syndrome-like phenotype: Two unrelated cases and screening of large cohorts.

Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS) is an imprinting disorder characterized by prenatal and postnatal growth retardation, relative macrocephaly, feeding difficulties and body asymmetry. Recently, upd(20)mat has been identified in few patients with SRS-like features, suggestive of a new imprinting disorder characterized by prenatal and postnatal growth failure. Here, we describe two male patients with upd(20) and feeding difficulties, prenatal and postnatal growth retardation and normal cognitive development. During pregnancy, confined placental mosaicism for trisomy 20 was detected in one of the patients but was not investigated further until identification of upd(20)mat in the neonatal period. To evaluate whether upd(20)mat should be part of the first trier genetic diagnostic in patients with growth retardation, we screened a large cohort of patients (n = 673) referred to our laboratories for SRS-testing without detecting any upd(20). Our results, along with the existing evidence, indicate that upd(20)mat is a very rare cause of growth retardation, but should be followed up when confined placental mosaicism for trisomy 20 mosaicism is observed during pregnancy.

Cytogenetic discrepancy between cultured amniocytes and uncultured amniocytes in mosaic double trisomy involving trisomy 7 and trisomy 20 (48,XY,+7,+20) at amniocentesis.

OBJECTIVE: We present mosaic double trisomy involving trisomy 7 and trisomy 20 at amniocentesis in a pregnancy with a favorable outcome. CASE REPORT: A 41-year-old woman underwent amniocentesis at 16 weeks of gestation because of advanced maternal age. Amniocentesis revealed a result of 48,XY,+7,+20[6]/46,XY[26] in cultured amniocytes. At 19 weeks of gestation, repeat amniocentesis was performed, which revealed a result of 48,XY,+7,+20[4]/46,XY[21] in cultured amniocytes. Simultaneous molecular cytogenetic analyses on uncultured amniocytes at repeat amniocentesis revealed no genomic imbalance in array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) analysis, no trisomy 7 and no trisomy 20 signals in 114/114 cells in interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis, and no uniparental disomy (UPD) 7 and no UPD 20 in quantitative fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) analysis. Interphase FISH analysis on cultured amniocytes revealed double trisomy of trisomy 7 and trisomy 20 in 5/105 cells (4.7%) compared with 0/100 cells (0%) in the normal control. Prenatal ultrasound findings were unremarkable. The parental karyotypes were normal. The woman decided to continue the pregnancy, and a healthy 2880-g phenotypically normal male baby was delivered at 34 weeks of gestation without any structural abnormality. The cord blood had a normal karyotype. Interphase FISH analysis of the urinary cells revealed no trisomy 7 and no trisomy 20 signals in 51/51 urinary cells. CONCLUSION: Cytogenetic discrepancy between cultured amniocytes and uncultured amniocytes can occur in mosaicism for double trisomy involving trisomy 7 and trisomy 20 at amniocentesis. Molecular cytogenetic analyses such as aCGH, FISH and QF-PCR on uncultured amniocytes are useful for rapid distinguishing true mosaicism from pseudomosaicism under such a circumstance.

High frequency of paternal iso or heterodisomy at chromosome 20 associated with sporadic pseudohypoparathyroidism 1B.

Pseudohypoparathyroidism 1B (PHP1B) is caused by maternal epigenetic defects in the imprinted GNAS cluster. PHP1B can follow an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance or occur sporadically (spor-PHP1B). These latter patients present broad methylation changes of two or more differentially methylated regions (DMR) that, when mimicking the paternal allele, raises the suspicious of the occurrence of paternal uniparental disomy of chromosome 20 (upd(20)pat). A cohort of 33 spor-PHP1B patients was screened for upd(20)pat using comparative genomic hybridization with SNP-chip. Methylation analyses were assessed by methylation specific-multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification. Upd(20)pat was identified in 6 patients, all exhibiting typical paternal methylation pattern compared to normal controls, namely a complete loss of methylation of GNAS A/B:TSS-DMR, negligible methylation at GNAS-AS1:TSS-DMR and GNAS-XL:Ex1-DMR and complete gain of methylation at GNAS-NESP:TSS-DMR. The overall frequency of upd(20) is 18% in our cohort when searched considering both severe and partial loss of imprinting. However, twenty five patients displayed severe methylation pattern and the upd(20)pat frequency reaches 24% when searching in this group. Consequently, up to day, upd(20)pat is the most common anomaly than other genetic alterations in spor-PHP1B patients. Upd(20)pat occurrence is not linked to the parental age in contrast to upd(20)mat, strongly associated with an advanced maternal childbearing age. This study provides criteria to guide further investigations for upd(20)pat needed for an adequate genetic counseling.

Examinations of maternal uniparental disomy and epimutations for chromosomes 6, 14, 16 and 20 in Silver-Russell syndrome-like phenotypes.

BACKGROUND: Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS) is a growth retardation disorder with a very broad molecular and clinical spectrum. Whereas the association of SRS with imprinting disturbances of chromosomes 11p15.5 and 7 is generally accepted, there are controversial discussions on the involvement of other molecular changes. The recent reports on the occurrence of maternal uniparental disomies of chromosomes 6, 16 and 20 (upd(6, 16, 20)mat), as well as 14q32 imprint alterations in patients with SRS phenotypes raise the question on the involvement of these mutations in the etiology of SRS. METHODS: A cohort of 54 growth retarded patients with SRS features was screened for aberrant methylation patterns of chromsomes 6, 14, 16 and 20. RESULTS: One carrier of a 14q32 epimutation was identified whereas epimutations and maternal UPD for chromosomes 6, 16 and 20 were excluded. CONCLUSIONS: Our data and those from the literature confirm that 14q32 disturbances significantly contribute to the mutation spectrum in this cohort. Furthermore, maternal uniparental disomy of chromosomes 6, 16 and 20 can be observed, but are rare. In case they occur they can be regarded as causative for clinical features.