TP53 missense allele predisposing to high risk of breast cancer but not pediatric cancers.

Pathogenic TP53 germline variants cause young-onset breast cancer and other cancers of the Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) spectrum, but the clinical consequences of partial-loss-of function TP53 variants are incompletely understood. In the consecutive cohort of Palestinian breast cancer patients of the Middle East Breast Cancer Study (MEBCS), breast cancer risk among TP53 p. R181C heterozygotes was 50% by age 50 y and 81% by age 80 y.

The landscape of autosomal-recessive pathogenic variants in European populations reveals phenotype-specific effects.

The number and distribution of recessive alleles in the population for various diseases are not known at genome-wide-scale. Based on 6,447 exome sequences of healthy, genetically unrelated Europeans of two distinct ancestries, we estimate that every individual is a carrier of at least 2 pathogenic variants in currently known autosomal-recessive (AR) genes and that 0.8%-1% of European couples are at risk of having a child affected with a severe AR genetic disorder.

Performance comparison: exome sequencing as a single test replacing Sanger sequencing.

Next generation sequencing tests are used routinely as first-choice tests in the clinic. However, systematic performance comparing the results of exome sequencing as a single test replacing Sanger sequencing of targeted gene(s) is still lacking. Performance comparison data are critically important for clinical case management.

Correction: Population screening for BRCA1/BRCA2 founder mutations in Ashkenazi Jews: proactive recruitment compared with self-referral.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Preconception carrier screening yield: effect of variants of unknown significance in partners of carriers with clinically significant variants.

Purpose: Expanded preconception carrier screening (ECS) identifies at-risk couples (ARCs) for multiple diseases. ECS reports currently include only pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants (P/LPVs). Variants of unknown significance (VUS) are not reported, unlike genomic or chromosomal array test results in other post/prenatal settings.

Population screening for BRCA1/BRCA2 founder mutations in Ashkenazi Jews: proactive recruitment compared with self-referral.

Purpose: Population screening of three common BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations in Ashkenazi Jews (AJ) apparently fulfills screening criteria. We compared streamlined BRCA screening via self-referral with proactive recruitment in medical settings.

Methods: Unaffected AJ, age ≥25 years without known familial mutations, were either self-referred or recruiter-enrolled.

Loss of function of PCDH12 underlies recessive microcephaly mimicking intrauterine infection.

Objective: To identify the genetic basis of a recessive syndrome characterized by prenatal hyperechogenic brain foci, congenital microcephaly, hypothalamic midbrain dysplasia, epilepsy, and profound global developmental disability.

Methods: Identification of the responsible gene by whole exome sequencing and homozygosity mapping.

Results: Ten patients from 4 consanguineous Palestinian families manifested in utero with hyperechogenic brain foci, microcephaly, and intrauterine growth retardation.

A novel severe N-terminal splice site KISS1R gene mutation causes hypogonadotropic hypogonadism but enables a normal development of neonatal external genitalia.

Background: Kisspeptin 1 receptor (KISS1R) gene mutations are rare but have recently become an important etiology of normosmic isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH).

Objectives: To characterize the genetic defect, the phenotype, and response to therapy of three IHH siblings with a novel severe KISS1R mutation.

Patients And Methods: Three siblings (16- and 22-year-old sisters and their 20-year-old brother) born to consanguineous parents with normal neonatal external genitalia presented with no pubertal development, normosmia, and a low response to GNRH stimulation.

XX ovarian dysgenesis is caused by a PSMC3IP/HOP2 mutation that abolishes coactivation of estrogen-driven transcription.

XX female gonadal dysgenesis (XX-GD) is a rare, genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by lack of spontaneous pubertal development, primary amenorrhea, uterine hypoplasia, and hypergonadotropic hypogonadism as a result of streak gonads. Most cases are unexplained but thought to be autosomal recessive. We elucidated the genetic basis of XX-GD in a highly consanguineous Palestinian family by using homozygosity mapping and candidate-gene and whole-exome sequencing.