Two distinct genomic disorders have been linked to Xq28-gains, namely Xq28-duplications including MECP2 and Int22h1/Int22h2-mediated duplications involving RAB39B. Here, we describe six unrelated patients, five males and one female, with Xq28-gains distal to MECP2 and proximal to the Int22h1/Int22h2 low copy repeats. Comparison with patients carrying overlapping duplications in the literature defined the MidXq28-duplication syndrome featuring intellectual disability, language impairment, structural brain malformations, microcephaly, seizures and minor craniofacial features.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmith-Magenis syndrome (SMS) is a complex genetic disorder characterized by developmental delay, behavioural problems and circadian rhythm dysregulation. About 90% of SMS cases are due to a 17p11.2 deletion containing retinoic acid induced1 (RAI1) gene, 10% are due to heterozygous mutations affecting RAI1 coding region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground. Parkinson's disease (PD) is mostly characterized by alpha-synuclein (SNCA) aggregation and loss of nigrostriatal dopamine-containing neurons. In this study a novel SNCA multiplication is described in two siblings affected by severe parkinsonism featuring early onset dyskinesia, psychiatric symptoms, and cognitive deterioration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMandibuloacral dysplasia (MAD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused basically by a missense mutation within the LMNA gene, which encodes for lamin A/C. We have used gene expression profiling to characterize the specificity of molecular changes induced by the prevalent MAD mutation (R527H). A total of 5531 transcripts expressed in human dermis were investigated in two MAD patients, both carrying the R527H mutation, and three control subjects (age and sex matched).
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