Publications by authors named "Jean Marc Costa"

Alazami syndrome is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by global developmental delay, growth restriction, and distinctive facial features. Fewer than 50 individuals are currently reported with biallelic loss of function variants in LARP7. We report the case of a 3.

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  • The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of RCR-cfDNA testing for detecting common autosomal trisomies in twin pregnancies compared to singleton pregnancies.
  • It involved a multicenter analysis of 862 twin pregnancies, focusing on the rate of no-call results and the accuracy of detecting trisomy 21, 18, and 13.
  • Results showed that the RCR-cfDNA test achieved 100% accuracy for detecting all trisomies with a low no-call rate in twin pregnancies, indicating its reliability as a first-tier screening option.
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  • The study investigates the effectiveness of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing for detecting fetal aneuploidies in women with triplet pregnancies, as current data is limited compared to singleton pregnancies.
  • The research involved a retrospective analysis of 255 women who underwent cfDNA testing between 2017 and 2020, focusing primarily on trisomy 21 (T21) and secondarily on trisomy 18 (T18) and trisomy 13 (T13).
  • Results indicated that cfDNA testing can serve as a primary screening tool for major fetal aneuploidies in triplet pregnancies, highlighting the importance of informed patient consent before proceeding with the test.
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  • The study focuses on a group of fungal isolates, which require molecular identification due to their similarity to other species, and assesses their antifungal susceptibility and clinical context from patient sources.
  • A total of 140 clinical isolates were analyzed over 15 years, using gene sequencing and susceptibility tests to evaluate resistance to antifungal medications like itraconazole and voriconazole.
  • The results showed that most isolates were identified as a specific species, with a small percentage exhibiting resistance to isavuconazole and itraconazole, highlighting the need for reliable identification and treatment strategies in clinical settings.
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Background And Objective: GLUT1 deficiency syndrome (Glut1DS) is a treatable neurometabolic disease that causes a wide range of neurologic symptoms in children and adults. However, its diagnosis relies on an invasive test, that is, a lumbar puncture (LP) to measure glycorrhachia, and sometimes complex molecular analyses of the gene. This procedure limits the number of patients able to receive the standard of care.

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  • * Analyzed exome sequencing data from over 3,200 individuals with developmental/neurological issues using the MELT tool to identify MEIs, resulting in two significant findings linked to specific conditions.
  • * The study suggests that integrating MEI detection into exome sequencing could enhance diagnosis rates for genetic disorders, indicating its potential as a standalone diagnostic tool.
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  • A vanishing twin (VT) occurs in about 30% of twin pregnancies and is linked to a higher risk of fetal genetic abnormalities (aneuploidy).
  • A study analyzed data from 847 VT patients who underwent noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for common fetal trisomies, alongside comparison groups of singleton and viable multiple pregnancies.
  • Results showed that while NIPT was effective in screening for trisomy 21 (with a 50% confirmation rate), caution is advised for interpreting results for trisomies 18 and 13, suggesting ultrasound monitoring instead of invasive tests.
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  • A supernumerary marker chromosome (SMC) is an uncommon, structurally abnormal chromosome that can't be easily identified using typical cytogenetic techniques, impacting about 0.075% of prenatal cases.
  • Case study involved a 39-year-old pregnant woman with a normal ultrasound but high-risk factors for chromosomal abnormalities, leading to further testing.
  • Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) combined with chorionic villus sampling successfully identified a duplication on chromosome 20, allowing for quicker and more efficient analysis without extensive FISH studies.
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  • The study addresses the challenge of manually reinterpreting sequenced genomic data due to human resource limitations and inconsistent procedures, highlighting the need for more efficient methods.* -
  • The Genome Alert! method automates the reporting of clinically significant changes in variant classifications from the ClinVar database, revealing a significant number of changes and new gene-disease associations over a two-year period.* -
  • The use of Genome Alert! resulted in a high validation rate of classification changes, leading to new diagnoses for several patients and the identification of valuable gene-disease associations not previously documented in existing databases.*
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Purpose: Use of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) for diagnosis is limited regarding the low number of target molecules in early-stage tumors. Human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated carcinomas represent a privileged model using circulating viral DNA (ctHPV DNA) as a tumor marker. However, the plurality of HPV genotypes represents a challenge.

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  • Atypical fetal chromosomal anomalies (ACAs) are more common than thought and can impact fetal development, hence a new screening strategy for non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) was developed.
  • The screening was tested on two cohorts: Cohort A with 192 plasma samples (42 with ACAs) evaluated the test's performance, showing an 88.1% sensitivity and 99.3% specificity.
  • In Cohort B, involving 3,097 pregnant women, there was a 1.2% positive result rate for anomalies, indicating that this genome-wide NIPT can effectively screen for ACAs while requiring minimal additional invasive tests, especially for at-risk women.
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  • Heterozygous deletions on chromosome 15q13.3 can cause a range of symptoms, including intellectual disability and epilepsy, while homozygous deletions lead to more severe conditions like epileptic encephalopathy and poor growth.
  • Previous research focused on the CHRNA7 gene, but new studies suggest that the OTUD7A gene is critical for brain function and associated disorders.
  • A patient with severe developmental delays was found to have a damaging mutation in the OTUD7A gene, and tests showed significant dysfunction in the proteasome complex, linking these gene variations to early-onset epileptic encephalopathy.
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  • This study investigates the effectiveness of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing for detecting chromosomal abnormalities (trisomy 21, 18, and 13) in pregnant women with abnormal HCG and PAPP-A levels, indicating higher risks for complications.* -
  • The analysis involved 477 women and showed that cfDNA testing had a 100% sensitivity and specificity for identifying trisomy 21, with other trisomies detected as well, contributing to its reliability as a screening tool.* -
  • Additionally, the study aimed to assess cfDNA's role in predicting vascular complications during pregnancy, finding a few cases of hypertension among the participants.*
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  • The study aimed to assess a new automated cell-free DNA assay for screening maternal plasma to detect trisomies 21, 18, and 13 and determine fetal sex.
  • Involving 1,200 singleton pregnancies, the method analyzed maternal plasma with a non-sequencing approach based on imaging and counting chromosome targets, validated by cytogenetic testing and clinical examination.
  • Results showed the assay's excellent sensitivity and specificity for detecting the mentioned trisomies and accurate fetal sex classification, suggesting it could be simplified for broader use and reduced costs in population screening.
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  • - The study focuses on enhancing exome sequencing (ES) to analyze mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in individuals with developmental or neurological issues, aiming to improve diagnostic accuracy.
  • - Researchers developed a specialized bioinformatics pipeline to extract mtDNA data from ES results, analyzing 928 patients and identifying two pathogenic variants linked to specific health conditions.
  • - The findings highlight the effectiveness of integrating targeted mtDNA analysis within the ES process, leading to better diagnostic outcomes without needing additional patient samples.
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  • - Recent studies hinted at a link between heparin treatment and non-reportable cell-free DNA (cfDNA) test results, but lacked solid methodology to prove this connection.
  • - Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of pregnancies with non-reportable cfDNA results and found that heparin treatment was present in only a small percentage, suggesting other factors were more influential.
  • - In lab tests, heparin showed no effect on fetal DNA measurements, indicating it does not influence the accuracy of cfDNA screening for aneuploidies.
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Mucormycoses are life-threatening fungal diseases that affect a variety of patients including those with diabetes mellitus or hematological malignancies. The responsible agents, the Mucorales, are opportunistic pathogens originating from the environment such as soil or decaying organic matter. The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence and diversity of human-pathogenic species of Mucorales in commercially available foodstuffs in France.

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  • The study aimed to assess the effectiveness and failure rates of two different cell-free DNA testing methods used for detecting trisomy 21 in pregnancies from two laboratories.
  • It involved 2,870 tests using the HarmonyTM Prenatal Test with DANSR and 2,635 tests using the Cerba test with GW-MPS, applying a propensity score analysis for comparison.
  • Results showed that both methods had low no-result rates and were effective in detecting trisomy 21, but the GW-MPS method had a slightly lower no-result rate than the DANSR method.
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  • MiR-31-3p is identified as a potential biomarker for predicting how well patients with RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer respond to anti-EGFR therapy.
  • A new RT-qPCR assay was developed and validated to measure miR-31-3p levels in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor samples.
  • The study confirmed that the assay is reliable, with consistent performance across various conditions and PCR platforms, indicating it's feasible to quantify miR-31-3p in clinical samples.
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  • Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections in pregnant women can cause serious health issues for newborns due to congenital transmission.
  • Recent advancements show that there are billions of DNA fragments in the bloodstream that can be analyzed for non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT).
  • The study found a way to identify HCMV DNA in NIPT data and created a statistical model to measure viral load, aiming to enhance the accuracy of NIPT for detecting HCMV during pregnancy.
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  • Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) screening shows promising results compared to maternal serum screening (MSS), especially for pregnancies from assisted reproduction technologies (ART).
  • In a study with 794 pregnancies, cfDNA had a false-positive rate of 0% and a positive predictive value of 100%, while MSS had higher false-positive rates, particularly in ART pregnancies.
  • The findings indicate that cfDNA is more effective than MSS and could reduce the need for invasive procedures in all types of pregnancies, suggesting it should be the preferred primary screening method.
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Given the complexity of the airway microbiota in the respiratory tract of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, it seems crucial to compile the most exhaustive and exact list of the microbial communities inhabiting CF airways. The aim of the present study was to compare the bacterial and fungal diversity of sputa from adult CF patients during non-exacerbation period by culture-based and molecular methods, and ultra-deep-sequencing (UDS). Sputum samples from four CF patients were cultured and analysed by DNA extractions followed by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis through resolution of bacterial ribosomal gene (rDNA) fragments, and cloning plus sequencing of part of fungal rRNA genes.

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Background: Biofilms are communal structures of microorganisms that have long been associated with a variety of persistent infections poorly responding to conventional antibiotic or antifungal therapy. Aspergillus fumigatus fungus and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia bacteria are examples of the microorganisms that can coexist to form a biofilm especially in the respiratory tract of immunocompromised patients or cystic fibrosis patients. The aim of the present study was to develop and assess an in vitro model of a mixed biofilm associating S.

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  • Liver transplant recipients are vulnerable to fungal infections, particularly candidiasis, and echinocandins are the recommended preventive treatment; however, resistance to this antifungal is becoming more common.
  • A study was conducted at a University Hospital in France over two years, involving 94 liver transplant patients, where susceptibility to echinocandins was tested and analyzed.
  • Out of 39 treated patients, 8% developed resistance to echinocandins within a month, revealing specific mutations in resistant Candida species, predominantly found in digestive sites, highlighting the need for vigilance in monitoring antifungal resistance.
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  • Rhesus D genotyping using cell-free fetal DNA is gaining popularity for managing RhD-negative pregnant women, but its most effective use is still being debated, especially in the third trimester.
  • The study aimed to evaluate a new noninvasive technique for fetal Rhesus D genotyping in the first trimester using a specialized test known as real-time polymerase chain reaction.
  • Findings from the research showed that the test had excellent accuracy, with 100% sensitivity and 95.2% specificity, highlighting its potential as a reliable method for determining fetal RhD status early in pregnancy.
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