Publications by authors named "Anna de Burca"

Aims: A couple were referred for prenatal genetic testing at 31 weeks' gestation due to the presence of mild polyhydramnios and multiple central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities, including borderline ventriculomegaly, possible delayed sulcation, an enlarged cisterna magna and a small area of calcification around the posterior horns. Testing was initiated to identify any underlying genetic cause.

Materials And Methods: Rapid trio exome sequencing (ES) was performed on DNA extracted from parental blood samples and amniotic fluid.

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Background: The U.K. 100,000 Genomes Project is in the process of investigating the role of genome sequencing in patients with undiagnosed rare diseases after usual care and the alignment of this research with health care implementation in the U.

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ANKRD17 is an ankyrin repeat-containing protein thought to play a role in cell cycle progression, whose ortholog in Drosophila functions in the Hippo pathway as a co-factor of Yorkie. Here, we delineate a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by de novo heterozygous ANKRD17 variants. The mutational spectrum of this cohort of 34 individuals from 32 families is highly suggestive of haploinsufficiency as the underlying mechanism of disease, with 21 truncating or essential splice site variants, 9 missense variants, 1 in-frame insertion-deletion, and 1 microdeletion (1.

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Article Synopsis
  • Biallelic mutations in the SNORD118 gene are linked to a neurological condition called leukoencephalopathy with calcifications and cysts (LCC), affecting individuals' brains and leading to a range of symptoms.
  • A study identified 64 patients with LCC, showcasing a wide age range at disease onset and highlighting that most were compound heterozygotes for mutations in SNORD118, with many involving seven key nucleotides crucial for a specific RNA interaction.
  • The findings indicate that LCC is likely caused by a combination of severe and milder mutations impacting RNA processing, but there is no clear link between specific mutations and the age at which symptoms appear.
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Purpose: Congenital contractural arachnodactyly (CCA) is an autosomal dominant connective tissue disorder manifesting joint contractures, arachnodactyly, crumpled ears, and kyphoscoliosis as main features. Due to its rarity, rather aspecific clinical presentation, and overlap with other conditions including Marfan syndrome, the diagnosis is challenging, but important for prognosis and clinical management. CCA is caused by pathogenic variants in FBN2, encoding fibrillin-2, but locus heterogeneity has been suggested.

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Article Synopsis
  • Noonan syndrome (NS) is marked by unique facial characteristics, heart defects, and varying levels of intellectual disability, with LZTR1 implicated in both dominant and recessive inheritance forms.
  • Recent research identified multiple pathogenic variants in LZTR1 through exome analysis of nearly 10,000 patients, revealing several mutations that point to a dominant inheritance model, as well as some recessive cases.
  • The findings confirm LZTR1's significant role in NS and indicate that it accounts for a small percentage (~0.1%) of cases in the studied population, particularly where recessive inheritance is considered.
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Next-generation sequencing is a powerful tool for the discovery of genes related to neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Here, we report the identification of a distinct syndrome due to de novo or inherited heterozygous mutations in Tousled-like kinase 2 (TLK2) in 38 unrelated individuals and two affected mothers, using whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing technologies, matchmaker databases, and international collaborations. Affected individuals had a consistent phenotype, characterized by mild-borderline neurodevelopmental delay (86%), behavioral disorders (68%), severe gastro-intestinal problems (63%), and facial dysmorphism including blepharophimosis (82%), telecanthus (74%), prominent nasal bridge (68%), broad nasal tip (66%), thin vermilion of the upper lip (62%), and upslanting palpebral fissures (55%).

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Loss of function mutations in CTNNB1 have been reported in individuals with intellectual disability [MIM #615075] associated with peripheral spasticity, microcephaly and central hypotonia, suggesting a recognisable phenotype associated with haploinsufficiency for this gene. Trio based whole exome sequencing via the Deciphering Developmental Disorders (DDD) study has identified eleven further individuals with de novo loss of function mutations in CTNNB1. Here we report detailed phenotypic information on ten of these.

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Genomic imprinting is a form of gene dosage regulation in which a gene is expressed from only one of the alleles, in a manner dependent on the parent of origin. The mechanisms governing imprinted gene expression have been investigated in detail and have greatly contributed to our understanding of genome regulation in general. Both DNA sequence features, such as CpG islands, and epigenetic features, such as DNA methylation and non-coding RNAs, play important roles in achieving imprinted expression.

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