Evaluation of methods to detect CALR mutations in myeloproliferative neoplasms.

The recent discovery of somatically acquired CALR mutations in a substantial proportion of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms has provided a new marker of clonal disease, advancing both diagnosis and prognosis in these previously difficult to characterise disorders. The mutations, which can be challenging to detect on a routine basis, are heterogeneous insertions/deletions (indels) in exon 9 with mutant allele burden that vary substantially between patients. We evaluated four genetic screening methods for their ability to detect a series of different CALR mutations; Sanger sequencing, fragment analysis PCR, high resolution melt (HRM) and targeted next generation sequencing (NGS).

Genetic diagnosis of familial breast cancer using clonal sequencing.

Using conventional Sanger sequencing as a reference standard, we compared the sensitivity, specificity, and capacity of the Illumina GA II platform for the detection of TP53, BRCA1, and BRCA2 mutations in established tumor cell lines and DNA from patients with germline mutations. A total of 656 coding variants were identified in four cell lines and 65 patient DNAs. All of the known pathogenic mutations (including point mutations and insertions/deletions of up to 16 nucleotides) were identified, using a combination of the Illumina data analysis pipeline with custom and commercial sequence alignment software.

Different mutations in the NF1 gene are associated with Neurofibromatosis-Noonan syndrome (NFNS).

The association of the Noonan phenotype with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) was first noted by Allanson et al. [Am J Med Genet 1985;21:457-462.] and 30 further cases have subsequently been reported.