Genotypic Findings in Noonan and Non-Noonan RASopathies and Patient Eligibility for Growth Hormone Treatment.

Molecular study has become an invaluable tool in the field of RASopathies. Treatment with recombinant human growth hormone is approved in Noonan syndrome but not in the other RASopathies. The aim of this study was to learn about the molecular base of a large cohort of patients with RASopathies, with particular emphasis on patients with pathogenic variants in genes other than , and its potential impact on rGH treatment indication.

Molecular Diagnosis of Steroid 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency: A Practical Approach.

Adrenal insufficiency in paediatric patients is mostly due to congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a severe monogenic disease caused by steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD, encoded by the gene) in 95% of cases. genotyping requires careful analyses that guaranty gene-specific PCR, accurate definition of pseudogene-gene chimeras, gene duplications and allele dropout avoidance. A small panel of well-established disease-causing alterations enables a high diagnostic yield in confirming/discarding the disorder not only in symptomatic patients but also in those asymptomatic with borderline/positive results of 17-hydroxyprogesterone.

[Recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of classic forms of 21-hydroxylase-deficient congenital adrenal hyperplasia].

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the CYP21A2 gene. Cortisol and aldosterone synthesis are impaired in the classic forms (adrenal insufficiency and salt-wasting crisis). Females affected are virilised at birth, and are at risk for genital ambiguity.

[Cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome, a Noonan syndrome related disorder: clinical and molecular findings in 11 patients].

Objectives: To describe 11 patients with cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome (CFC) and compare them with 130 patients with other RAS-MAPK syndromes (111 Noonan syndrome patients [NS] and 19 patients with LEOPARD syndrome).

Patients And Methods: Clinical data from patients submitted for genetic analysis were collected. Bidirectional sequencing analysis of PTPN11, SOS1, RAF1, BRAF, and MAP2K1 focused on exons carrying recurrent mutations, and of all KRAS exons were performed.

LEOPARD syndrome: a variant of Noonan syndrome strongly associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Introduction And Objectives: LEOPARD syndrome is an autosomal dominant condition related to Noonan syndrome, although it occurs less frequently. The aim of this study was to characterize the clinical and molecular features of a large series of LEOPARD syndrome patients.

Methods: We collected clinical data from 19 patients in 10 hospitals.

Disorder of sex development as a diagnostic clue in the first Spanish known newborn with P450 oxidoreductase deficiency.

We report the first known case of p450 oxidoreductase deficiency (PORD) in a Spanish boy who presented ambiguous genitalia at birth as a unique feature. He had palpable gonads in the inguinal canal and a normal 46,XY karyotype. Blood tests showed increased lanosterol and androgen precursors (17-OH-pregnenolone and 17-OH-progesterone) and low adrenal androgens (dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulfate).

Alterations in RAS-MAPK genes in 200 Spanish patients with Noonan and other neuro-cardio-facio-cutaneous syndromes. Genotype and cardiopathy.

Introduction And Objectives: Molecular characterization of congenital heart diseases now includes the not infrequent dysmorphic Noonan syndrome. A study of 6 genes of the RAS-MAPK pathway in Spanish patients is presented: the impact of heart disease, clinical expressivity, and diagnostic yield are investigated.

Methods: The study included 643 patients (and 182 family members) diagnosed by dysmorphologists, cardiologists, and pediatric endocrinologists from 74 tertiary hospitals.

Identification of a Gypsy SHOX mutation (p.A170P) in Léri-Weill dyschondrosteosis and Langer mesomelic dysplasia.

We report the clinical and molecular characteristics of 12 Spanish families with multiple members affected with Léri-Weill dyschondrosteosis (LWD) or Langer mesomelic dysplasia (LMD), who present the SHOX (short stature homeobox gene) mutation p.A170P (c.508G>C) in heterozygosity or homozygosity, respectively.

LEOPARD syndrome (PTPN11, T468M) in three boys fulfilling neurofibromatosis type 1 clinical criteria.

Noonan syndrome (NS) and neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) are well-defined entities. The association of both disorders is called neurofibromatosis-Noonan syndrome (NFNS), a disorder that has been related to mutations in the NF1 gene. Both NS and NFNS display phenotypic overlapping with LEOPARD syndrome (LS), and differential diagnosis between these two entities often represents a challenge for clinicians.

Myeloproliferative disorder in Noonan syndrome.

Children with Noonan syndrome (NS) are at increased risk of developing juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) or a myeloproliferative disorder associated with NS (MPD/NS) resembling JMML in the first weeks of life; whereas JMML is an aggressive disorder requiring hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, MPD/NS may resolve without treatment and cases with spontaneous remission have also been reported. Two cases of NS with hematologic disorders are described. Diagnosis of the syndrome was confirmed by the identification of earlier reported germline missense mutations in the PTPN11 gene.

Carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia must identify 'apparently mild' CYP21A2 alleles which associate neonatal salt-wasting disease.

Objective: Couples at risk of severe congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) may be offered prenatal treatment or preimplantation diagnosis. However, proper genetic counselling requires the accurate identification of apparently 'mild alleles' in partners of CAH-carriers/patients.

Methods: CYP21A2 gene analyses were performed in 255 patients with severe 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD), 94 with mild 21-OHD, 752 parental samples, 233 clinically unaffected partners and 253 historic DNA samples.

Monogenic and polygenic models detected in steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency-related paediatric hyperandrogenism.

Aims: Hyperandrogenism, although mostly due to polygenic interactions, is monogenic for some enzymatic adrenal deficiencies. This study evaluates mono- and biallelic 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD)-related hyperandrogenism in pediatric patients. Sensitizing and protective polymorphisms were investigated in carriers and cryptic forms of 21OHD.

An XX male with an intratubular undifferentiated germ cell neoplasia.

Objective: To report a case of a 46,XX male with an intratubular undifferentiated germ cell neoplasia within an extra-abdominal gonad.

Design: Case report.

Setting: Molecular, cytogenetic, pathologic, and clinical units of three tertiary hospitals.

Should 21-hydroxylase deficiency genotyping be considered in assisted reproductive technology programs?

Objective: To describe and discuss our experience of patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) conceived via assisted reproduction techniques (ART).

Design: Case reports.

Setting: Tertiary hospitals and a CAH molecular diagnosis reference laboratory belonging to one of these.

Gene duplications in 21-hydroxylase deficiency: the importance of accurate molecular diagnosis in carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis.

Background: The detection of 21-OH deficiency (21OHD) carriers in the general population requires that misinterpretations of apparently severe mutations in alleles carrying duplicated genes be avoided. Prenatal treatment prevents virilization in female fetuses and genetic counseling may be offered to couples in which one partner is either a patient or a carrier. This paper proposes a semiquantitative PCR method involving primer extension that distinguishes the severe point mutation Q318X in single gene copy alleles from the normal/nondeficient variant in gene-duplicated alleles.

[Prevalence of frequent recessive diseases in the Spanish population through DNA analyses on samples from the neonatal screening].

Background And Objective: Cystic fibrosis (CF) and the nonclassical forms of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (NC21OHD) are frequent autosomal recessive diseases. Their frequencies in the Caucasian population are the ones applied to the management of the diseases (1:2500 and 1:1000, respectively). The aim of this study was to learn about the adequacy of these figures to the Spanish population.

Clinical manifestations and hormonal profile of two women with Cushing's disease and mild deficiency of 21-hydroxylase.

The development of Cushing's disease among patients with deficiency of 21-hydroxylase has not been observed to date. The clinical manifestations and the hormonal profile of this exceptional association are herein described through the study of two cases. The first one was a 39-yr-old woman who had undergone non-curative transsphenoidal surgery for a pituitary-dependent Cushing's syndrome 12 yr before.

Neonatal salt-wasting and 11 beta-hydroxylase deficiency in a child carrying a homozygous deletion hybrid CYP11B2 (aldosterone synthase)-CYP11B1 (11 beta-hydroxylase).

This article reports the case of a boy diagnosed at 1.8 years of age with congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 11 beta-hydroxylase deficiency. The patient showed salt-wasting episodes during the neonatal period.

Non-classical 21-hydroxylase deficiency in children: association of adrenocorticotropic hormone-stimulated 17-hydroxyprogesterone with the risk of compound heterozygosity with severe mutations.

Aim: To investigate the association between levels of 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) and the risk of being compound heterozygous for severe mutations in children with non-classical 21-hydroxylase deficiency (NC21OHD).

Methods: In 86 Spanish NC21OHD children (75 families) an analysis of the 21-hydroxylase (21-OH) gene was performed by CYP21B-specific polymerase chain reaction amplification, allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization and Southern blotting. Familial analysis established how the alleles segregated, and allowed the selection of 21-OH-genotyped normal and carrier children, which proved useful in determining a more precise definition of the cut-off for diagnosis.