Publications by authors named "Bert Callewaert"

E3 ubiquitin ligases have been linked to developmental diseases including autism, Angelman syndrome (UBE3A), and Johanson-Blizzard syndrome (JBS) (UBR1). Here, we report variants in the E3 ligase UBR5 in 29 individuals presenting with a neurodevelopmental syndrome that includes developmental delay, autism, intellectual disability, epilepsy, movement disorders, and/or genital anomalies. Their phenotype is distinct from JBS due to the absence of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and the presence of autism, epilepsy, and, in some probands, a movement disorder.

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  • Supramolecular ECM networks, crucial for skin structure and function, include EMILIN proteins that interact with elastin and influence cellular signaling.
  • Our study mapped the distribution of EMILIN-1, -2, and -3 in human skin, revealing their role in elastic fibers and their connections with basal keratinocytes.
  • We found that in conditions like Marfan syndrome and scleroderma, the presence and localization of EMILINs change, indicating they can be used as markers for monitoring dermal ECM rearrangements due to aging and disease.
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Structural variants (SVs) are important contributors to human disease. Their characterization remains however difficult due to their size and association with repetitive regions. Long-read sequencing (LRS) and optical genome mapping (OGM) can aid as their molecules span multiple kilobases and capture SVs in full.

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Introduction: Heterozygous pathogenic variants in NTRK2 (HGNC: 8032) have been associated with global developmental delay. However, only scattered cases have been described in small or general studies. The aim of our work was to consolidate our understanding of NTRK2-related disorders and to delineate the clinical presentation METHODS: We report extended cohort of 44 affected individuals, of whom 19 are from the literature and 25 were previously unreported.

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  • Researchers identified bi-allelic disruptive variants as the cause of autosomal recessive intellectual developmental disorder type 65, while dominant variants are harder to link to specific traits due to their presence in unaffected individuals.
  • The study involved a retrospective analysis of 21 individuals with likely pathogenic variants, focusing on clinical information and molecular data from their families.
  • Key findings revealed that those with dominant disruptive variants exhibited more developmental and behavioral problems, while individuals with dominant missense variants had a higher occurrence of renal and skin anomalies, enhancing the understanding of the related neurodevelopmental disorder.
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8q21.11 microdeletions encompassing the gene encoding transcription factor ZFHX4, have previously been associated by us with a syndromic form of intellectual disability, hypotonia, decreased balance and hearing loss. Here, we report on 57 individuals, 52 probands and 5 affected family members, with protein truncating variants (n=36), (micro)deletions (n=20) or an inversion (n=1) affecting with variable developmental delay and intellectual disability, distinctive facial characteristics, morphological abnormalities of the central nervous system, behavioral alterations, short stature, hypotonia, and occasionally cleft palate and anterior segment dysgenesis.

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Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an inherited cardiac condition affecting ~1 in 500 and exhibits marked genetic heterogeneity. Previously published in 2019, 57 HCM-associated genes were curated providing the first systematic evaluation of gene-disease validity. Here we report work by the ClinGen Hereditary Cardiovascular Disorders Gene Curation Expert Panel (HCVD-GCEP) to reappraise the clinical validity of previously curated and new putative HCM genes.

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Myhre syndrome (MS, MIM 139210) is a rare multisystemic disorder caused by recurrent pathogenic missense variants in SMAD4. The clinical features have been mainly documented in childhood and comprise variable neurocognitive development, recognizable craniofacial features, a short stature with a pseudo-muscular build, hearing loss, thickened skin, joint limitations, diverse cardiovascular and airway manifestations, and increased fibrosis often following trauma or surgery. In contrast, adults with MS are underreported obscuring potential clinical variability.

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Objective: Understanding the mechanisms of hip disease, such as osteoarthritis (OA), is crucial to advance their treatment. Such hip diseases often involve specific morphological changes. Genetic variations, called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), influence various hip morphological parameters.

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  • Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) stem from brain development issues, and research identifies loss-of-function (LoF) variations in the ZFHX3 gene as a cause of syndromic intellectual disability (ID).
  • A study of 42 individuals shows that variants in ZFHX3 lead to diverse symptoms like intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, distinct facial features, and developmental delays.
  • ZFHX3 plays a vital role in brain development, influences gene expression related to the nervous system, and has specific DNA methylation patterns linked to its function.
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Purpose: Interneuronopathies are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficient migration and differentiation of gamma-aminobutyric acidergic interneurons resulting in a broad clinical spectrum, including autism spectrum disorders, early-onset epileptic encephalopathy, intellectual disability, and schizophrenic disorders. SP9 is a transcription factor belonging to the Krüppel-like factor and specificity protein family, the members of which harbor highly conserved DNA-binding domains. SP9 plays a central role in interneuron development and tangential migration, but it has not yet been implicated in a human neurodevelopmental disorder.

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Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS) is an autosomal recessive inflammatory syndrome that manifests as an early-onset encephalopathy with both neurologic and extraneurologic clinical findings. AGS has been associated with pathogenic variants in nine genes: TREX1, RNASEH2B, RNASEH2C, RNASEH2A, SAMHD1, ADAR, IFIH1, LSM11, and RNU7-1. Diagnosis is established by clinical findings (encephalopathy and acquired microcephaly, intellectual and physical impairments, dystonia, hepatosplenomegaly, sterile pyrexia, and/or chilblains), characteristic abnormalities on cranial CT (calcification of the basal ganglia and white matter) and MRI (leukodystrophic changes), or the identification of pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants in the known genes.

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  • Scientists are now doing more genomic testing, which is checking our genes to see if we have or could get certain diseases.
  • They created a new database called CardiacG2P that helps understand how certain genes can cause heart diseases and makes it easier to find important gene changes.
  • By using this new database, they can better focus on the changes that really matter, making the process of testing for heart-related issues faster and more accurate.
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Background: Pathogenic variants in the zinc finger protein coding genes are rare causes of intellectual disability and congenital malformations. Mutations in the gene causing GDACCF syndrome (global developmental delay, absent or hypoplastic corpus callosum, dysmorphic facies; MIM #617260) have been reported in five individuals so far.

Methods: As a result of an international collaboration using GeneMatcher Phenome Central Repository and personal communications, here we describe the clinical and molecular genetic characteristics of 22 previously unreported individuals.

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Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) result from impaired development and functioning of the brain. Here, we identify loss-of-function variation in as a novel cause for syndromic intellectual disability (ID). ZFHX3, previously known as ATBF1, is a zinc-finger homeodomain transcription factor involved in multiple biological processes including cell differentiation and tumorigenesis.

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Jansen-de Vries syndrome (JdVS) is a neurodevelopmental condition attributed to pathogenic variants in Exons 5 and 6 of PPM1D. As the full phenotypic spectrum and natural history remain to be defined, we describe a large cohort of children and adults with JdVS. This is a retrospective cohort study of 37 individuals from 34 families with disease-causing variants in PPM1D leading to JdVS.

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  • More places are starting to use genomic testing, which means regular doctors will be looking at genetic information instead of just specialists.
  • This study looks at 65 gene-disease pairs related to inherited heart conditions and created a new dataset called CardiacG2P to help understand genetic variants better.
  • By using CardiacG2P, labs can find important genetic changes more easily while still catching most harmful variants compared to other methods.*
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  • Pathogenic variants in KMT5B, a lysine methyltransferase, are linked to global developmental issues, macrocephaly, autism, and other congenital anomalies, but the disorder is still not fully understood.
  • A study examining 43 patients revealed new significant features like hypotonia and congenital heart defects not previously associated with this condition.
  • Research using patient cell lines and KMT5B knockout mice showed that these variants lead to slow growth and highlighted alterations in pathways related to nervous system development, enhancing our understanding of the disorder's molecular mechanisms.
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  • * Researchers have identified changes in the HRAS gene that are involved in skin and bone issues associated with conditions like nevus sebaceous and cutaneous-skeletal-hypophosphatasia syndrome.
  • * This study presents two new findings: the connection between HRAS-related ENS and a rare ear defect (auricular atresia) and the simultaneous occurrence of different types of skin nevi, highlighting the varied effects of HRAS gene variations on development.
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EMILIN1 (elastin-microfibril-interface-located-protein-1) is a structural component of the elastic fiber network and localizes to the interface between the fibrillin microfibril scaffold and the elastin core. How EMILIN1 contributes to connective tissue integrity is not fully understood. Here, we report bi-allelic EMILIN1 loss-of-function variants causative for an entity combining cutis laxa, arterial tortuosity, aneurysm formation, and bone fragility, resembling autosomal-recessive cutis laxa type 1B, due to EFEMP2 (FBLN4) deficiency.

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