Publications by authors named "Bazak L"

Deciphering the spectrum and founder disease-causing variants (DCVs) in specific populations can shape and facilitate the diagnostic process of Lynch Syndrome (LS). The aim of this report was to comprehensively update on the genetic landscape of LS in the ethnically diverse Israeli-Jewish population. The cohort included 1080 carriers from 588 families; some from underrepresented, understudied Israeli ethnic groups recruited from 8 genetic institutes and high-risk clinics throughout the country.

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Objective: To investigate how many novel pathogenic (P) and likely pathogenic (LP) nonprotein-truncating or noncanonical splicing variants would be classified as variants of unknown significance (VUS) if they were detected in fetuses without abnormalities.

Methods: The study included 156 patients with neurodevelopmental disorders diagnosed through postnatal exome sequencing. Causative P/LP nonprotein-truncating and noncanonical splicing variants were retrospectively reclassified in cases without specific prenatal manifestations, disregarding postnatal symptoms.

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Mutated skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor-1 (RYR1) gene is associated with a spectrum of autosomal dominant and recessive RyR1-related disorders with a wide phenotype. This report describes a variable phenotype associated with a previously unreported RYR1 frameshift pathogenic variant, (NM_000540.2) c.

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Objective: This study aimed to assess the detection rate of clinically significant results of prenatal exome sequencing (pES) in low-risk pregnancies and apparently normal fetuses in non-consanguineous couples.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of pES conducted at a single center from January 2020 to September 2023 was performed. Genetic counseling was provided, and detailed medical histories were obtained.

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Background: Biological similarities between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) have been described in humans and animal models suggesting a possible common genetic basis. FMF is caused by variants in the MEFV gene which encodes pyrin, an immune regulator. This study aimed to investigate the carrier rate of disease-causing MEFV variants in children of different ethnicities diagnosed with very-early-onset IBD (VEO-IBD).

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Article Synopsis
  • POT1 is an important gene involved in protecting and regulating the length of telomeres, and mutations in this gene can increase cancer risk, particularly for melanoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
  • A specific mutation, p.(I78T), has been identified as a common pathogenic variant among Ashkenazi Jews, linked to a range of cancers and recurrent melanoma in individuals aged 25 to 67.
  • Research suggests that this variant should be included in genetic testing for high-risk patients of Ashkenazi Jewish descent due to its association with early-onset severe cancers.
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  • - Alport syndrome is a genetic disorder linked to mutations in the COL4A gene, and this study focuses on its occurrence in the Bukharian Jewish population, where known mutations in COL4A4 were previously undocumented.
  • - Researchers examined 38 patients from 22 families and found that 20 had confirmed molecular diagnoses with three specific COL4A4 variants, highlighting a range of genetic inheritance patterns including heterozygous and homozygous states.
  • - The study identifies three new pathogenic variants that frequently appear in Bukharian Jews, contributing to symptoms like hematuria and potentially leading to end-stage renal disease and hearing loss.
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Objective: Mitochondrial complex-I deficiency, nuclear type 16, is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in NDUFAF5 (C20orf7) (OMIM 618238). The aim of this study was to describe a severe early prenatal manifestation of this disorder, which was previously considered to occur only postnatally.

Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective case series including five fetuses from three non-related families, which shared common sonographic abnormalities, including brain cysts, corpus callosal malformations, non-immune hydrops fetalis and growth restriction.

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Article Synopsis
  • * A study of Bukharan Jewish patients revealed that this variant is linked to severe forms of the disease, with symptoms often presenting in children around 8.7 years old, including liver issues.
  • * The detected carrier frequency of the variant is approximately 1 in 30, suggesting that screening for this genetic variant should be incorporated into pre-symptomatic and newborn screening programs to prevent serious health complications.
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Purpose: Exome sequencing (ES) could detect pathogenic variants that are unrelated to the test indication, including findings that may have an impact for patients considering conception/reproduction (reproduction-related findings [RRFs]), deliberately searched secondary findings (SFs), and incidental findings (IFs). We aimed to examine the detection rate of clinically actionable findings and to present counseling dilemmas in 840 parents of probands undergoing clinical trio ES testing.

Methods: RRFs/IFs/SFs were actively searched for in the parents as part of ES data analysis.

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A short report of two male siblings born with cutis aplasia, lymphedema and intestinal lymphangiectasia, one found to carry bi-allelic variants in the TIE1 gene known to be associated with congenital lymphedema.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers analyzed exome sequencing data from over 3,000 Israeli individuals to identify potentially pathogenic genetic variants across various ancestries, detecting variants not included in existing screening panels, particularly for Ashkenazi Jews and Muslim Arabs.
  • * The study emphasizes the importance of a community-driven approach in improving carrier screening by discovering previously overlooked variants and ensuring that screening panels are more inclusive and equitable for diverse populations.
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  • * Researchers analyzed 12 individuals from different families with mutations predominantly in the 5' region of TRA2B, leading to various developmental issues, including intellectual disability and autism.
  • * The findings suggest that these mutations reduce the expression of the Tra2β-1 isoform while increasing the shorter Tra2β-3 isoform, disrupting normal gene splicing and contributing to the neurodevelopmental syndrome.
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The role of lysine methyltransferases (KMTs) and demethylases (KDMs) in the regulation of chromatin modification is well-established. Recently, deleterious heterozygous variants in were implicated in individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and/or autism spectrum disorder. We describe three unrelated patients with global developmental delay (GDD) or ID, macrocephaly and additional features.

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  • The study looked at whether prenatal exome sequencing (ES) could be useful for diagnosing neurocognitive disorders that lack clear prenatal signs.
  • Out of 138 patients studied, only about 23.75% showed detectable structural fetal abnormalities on ultrasound, with many not showing any identifiable prenatal signs.
  • The findings suggest that a significant number of neurocognitive disorders diagnosed after birth may not present noticeable prenatal features, indicating a potential gap in prenatal diagnostics that ES could fill.
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Background And Purpose: Muscular A-type lamin-interacting protein (MLIP) is most abundantly expressed in cardiac and skeletal muscle. In vitro and animal studies have shown its regulatory role in myoblast differentiation and in organization of myonuclear positioning in skeletal muscle, as well as in cardiomyocyte adaptation and cardiomyopathy. We report the association of biallelic truncating variation in the MLIP gene with human disease in five individuals from two unrelated pedigrees.

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A family with DYRK1B LOF variant offering to expand the phenotype beyond the metabolic syndrome.

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Objective: Laboratories performing prenatal exome sequencing (ES) frequently limit analysis to predetermined gene lists. We used a diagnostic postnatal ES cohort to assess how many of the genes diagnosed are not included in a number of select fixed lists used for prenatal diagnosis.

Methods: Of 601 postnatal ES tests, pathogenic variants related to neurodevelopmental disorders were detected in 138 probands.

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BAP1 germline pathogenic sequence variants (PSVs) underlie a unique tumor predisposition syndrome (BAP1-TPDS) associated with an increased lifetime risk for developing primarily pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma and uveal and cutaneous melanoma. Overwhelmingly, BAP1 PSVs are unique, family-specific inactivating variants. We identified seven families, six of Jewish Iraqi origin, harboring an identical BAP1 splice variant (c.

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POLR3A encodes the largest subunit of the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase III. Pathogenic variants in this gene are associated with dysregulation of tRNA production and other non-coding RNAs. POLR3A-related disorders include variable phenotypes.

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Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness of phenotype-based search approaches using publicly available online databases.

Methods: We included consecutively solved cases from our exome database. For each case, the combination of Human Phenotype Ontology terms reported by the referring clinician was used to perform a search in three commonly used databases: OMIM (first 300 results), Phenolyzer (first 300 results), and Mendelian (all 100 results).

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The combination of congenital heart defects and vertebral anomalies with or without additional abnormalities has been reported in many genetic disorders. We describe a family in which four consecutive pregnancies were characterized by the combination of fetal congenital heart malformations and vertebral anomalies. In addition, preaxial polydactyly was detected in one of the fetuses.

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