Two male patients with ring Y: definition of an interval in Yq contributing to Turner syndrome.

Turner syndrome is thought to result from the haploinsufficiency of genes on the sex chromosomes, but these genes have not been identified yet. We describe two males with deleted ring Y chromosomes, one (TS) with full Turner syndrome and one (DM) without. TS has short stature, skeletal anomalies, lymphogenic obstruction, cardiovascular abnormalities, and miscellaneous features including pigmented naevi, antimongoloid slanting of the palpebral fissures, and widely spaced nipples.

Latent chromosomal instability in cancer patients.

There is increasing evidence that, similar to what is found with other genetic disorders, genomic instability is one of the most general features of cancer. Different forms of manifestation including latent instability have been suggested. To recognize latent chromosomal instability we treated lymphocyte cultures of cancer patients and healthy persons with caffeine, two different doses of bleomycin, and a combination of bleomycin and caffeine.

Centromeric instability of chromosomes 1, 9 and 16 with variable immune deficiency. Support of a new syndrome.

A four-month-old girl with facial dysmorphism, moderate mental retardation, immune deficiency (decreased IgG and IgA and absence of IgM), centromeric instability of chromosomes 1, 9, 16 and very rarely of chromosome 2, and disposition to formation of multibranched chromosomal figures, is described. The case is the fifth described with such chromosomal and immune abnormalities, which prove the existence of a new syndrome. The authors suggest an autosomal recessive inheritance.

Two familial cases with trisomy 15q dist due to a rcp(5;15)(p14;q21).

A trisomy of the distal long arm of chromosome 15(q21 leads to qter) resulting in similar phenotypic and developmental abnormalities in two related children (a boy and a girl) is described. The chromosome defect was due to malsegregation of a balanced translocation (5;15)(p14;q21) in one of the parents. It was inherited in four generations and accompanied by recurrent miscarriages.