We present the case of a male patient who was ultimately diagnosed with Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD; MIM# 300376) after the onset of muscle weakness in his teens progressively led to significant walking difficulties in his twenties. A genetic diagnosis was pursued but initial investigation revealed no aberrations in the dystrophin gene (), although immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis suggested the diagnosis of dystrophinopathy. Eventually, after more than 10 years, an RNA analysis captured abnormal splicing where 154 nucleotides from intron 43 were inserted between exon 43 and 44 resulting in a frameshift and a premature stop codon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAutosomal dominant variants in LDB3 (also known as ZASP), encoding the PDZ-LIM domain-binding factor, have been linked to a late onset phenotype of cardiomyopathy and myofibrillar myopathy in humans. However, despite knockout mice displaying a much more severe phenotype with premature death, bi-allelic variants in LDB3 have not yet been reported. Here we identify biallelic loss-of-function variants in five unrelated cardiomyopathy families by next-generation sequencing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenes Chromosomes Cancer
August 2021
Germline mutations in the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes cause Lynch syndrome (LS). In this study, we identified and characterized a novel SINE-VNTR-Alu (SVA) insertion in exon 12 of MSH2 in an individual with early-onset colorectal cancer and a very strong LS family history. RT-PCR analysis indicated a larger aberrant MSH2 transcript in one of the family members.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Biallelic pathogenic variants in the mismatch repair (MMR) genes cause a recessive childhood cancer predisposition syndrome known as constitutional mismatch repair deficiency (CMMRD). Family members with a heterozygous MMR variant have Lynch syndrome. We aimed at estimating cancer risk in these heterozygous carriers as a novel approach to avoid complicated statistical methods to correct for ascertainment bias.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Lynch syndrome due to pathogenic variants in the DNA mismatch repair genes MLH1, MSH2, and MSH6 is predominantly associated with colorectal and endometrial cancer, although extracolonic cancers have been described within the Lynch tumor spectrum. However, the age-specific cumulative risk (penetrance) of these cancers is still poorly defined for PMS2-associated Lynch syndrome. Using a large data set from a worldwide collaboration, our aim was to determine accurate penetrance measures of cancers for carriers of heterozygous pathogenic PMS2 variants.
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