Detection of germline rearrangements in patients with α- and β-thalassemia using high resolution array CGH.

Approximately 80% of α-thalassemia mutations are deletions in the α-globin cluster on chromosome 16 and about 10% of β-thalassemia mutations are deletions in the β-globin gene cluster on chromosome 11. Larger deletions involving the β-globin gene cluster lead to (δβ)-, (γδβ)-, (εγδβ)-thalassemia, or hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH). Array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) was applied to screen for deletions in the α- and β-globin gene clusters not detected by routine gap-PCR.

A new stable alpha chain variant: Hb Basel [alpha14(A12)Trp-->Leu (alpha1)].

We describe a heterozygosity for a new missense mutation on the alpha1-globin gene of an 18-year-old woman of Portuguese ancestry with severe hypochromic anemia and iron deficiency. Hemoglobin (Hb) analysis by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) found a prominent peak constituting about 12% of total Hb. Sequencing of the globin genes of the index patient found the mutation alpha14(A12)Trp-->Leu (alpha1), HBA1:c.

Phenotypic variability of a distinct deletion in McLeod syndrome.

The X-linked McLeod neuroacanthocytosis syndrome strongly resembles Huntington's disease and has been reported in various countries world-wide. Herein, we report two Chilean brothers with predominant psychiatric features at disease onset including schizophrenia-like psychosis and obsessive compulsive disorder. Molecular genetic analysis revealed a small deletion in the XK gene (938-942delCTCTA), which has been already described in a North American patient of Anglo-Saxon descent and a Japanese family, presenting with seizures, muscle atrophy or chorea yet absence of psychiatric features.

A novel complex mutation event in the peripherin/RDS gene in a family with retinal pattern dystrophy.

Purpose: To report a complex mutation in the peripherin/RDS gene found in a family in whom retinal pattern dystrophy is segregating as an autosomal dominant trait.

Methods: Clinical data were collected from family members of a large Swiss family affected by autosomal dominant retinal pattern dystrophy. Single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis of the candidate gene peripherin/RDS and subsequent sequencing of the first exon were performed.

The LTR promoter of the rat oncomodulin gene is regulated by cell-line specific accessibility in the LTR U3 region.

By germline insertion, a long terminal repeat (LTR) of an intracisternal A-particle type IAP retrovirus has overtaken the transcriptional control of the rat oncomodulin (OM) gene, which codes for a high affinity Ca2+-binding protein with modulatory capacity. In order to get insights into regulatory mechanisms of LTR directed OM gene expression we tested promoter activity of this LTR by transient transfection of transformed rat fibroblasts with this sequence placed 5' of the human growth hormone hGH reporter gene. The OM LTR is a strong promoter but does not follow an expression pattern similar to the one of the OM gene.

Quantitative monitoring of BCR--ABL transcript--suggestion of a simplified approach considering inaccuracy of measurement and calibration.

According to standard-protocols, real time quantitative RT-PCR (RQ-PCR) for quantification of BCR-ABL fusion transcripts in CML patients is performed with the construction of a standard curve for each run, each sample is analyzed at least in duplicate and 10-40 ml peripheral blood are processed. This approach is appropriate for a research laboratory, but is not suitable for a routine laboratory setting. We show that the calibration curve based on the common 5 dilution standards (between 10 and 10(6) copies) is strongly influenced by the large variability of the measurements below 100 copies of the gene.

Genomewide homozygosity mapping and molecular analysis of a candidate gene located on 22q13 (fibulin-1) in a previously undescribed vitreoretinal dystrophy.

Objectives: To localize the gene that causes an autosomal recessively inherited vitreoretinal dystrophy that has not been described, to our knowledge, and to analyze a candidate gene mapped to 22q13 (fibulin-1 [FBLN1]).

Methods: Homozygosity mapping with 500 microsatellite markers spread over the whole genome (mean distance, 7.2 centimorgans [cM]) and mutation analysis of the complete coding region of FBLN1.

Clinical description and exclusion of candidate genes in a novel autosomal recessively inherited vitreoretinal dystrophy.

Objectives: To describe the clinical phenotype of a novel autosomal recessively inherited vitreoretinal dystrophy in one generation of a family originating from eastern Switzerland.

Methods: A clinical study including electroretinographic investigations followed by laboratory-based genetic and molecular analysis. Four affected and 3 unaffected members of the family were examined.

McLeod phenotype associated with a XK missense mutation without hematologic, neuromuscular, or cerebral involvement.

Background: The X-linked McLeod neuroacanthocytosis syndrome is a multisystem disorder with hematologic, neuromuscular, and central nervous system (CNS) manifestations. All carriers of the McLeod blood group phenotype examined so far had at least subclinical signs of systemic involvement.

Study Design And Methods: Evaluation of two brothers carrying the McLeod phenotype with neurologic examination, immunohematology, RBC membrane protein Western blotting, analysis of XK DNA sequence and RNA levels, muscle histology including XK/Kell immunohistochemistry, cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and quantified positron emission tomography (PET).

Spondylo-ocular syndrome: a new entity with crystalline lens malformation, cataract, retinal detachment, osteoporosis, and platyspondyly.

Purpose: To define a new clinical entity in a consanguineous family with six children affected by a spondylo-ocular syndrome, including cataract, crystalline lens malformation, retinal detachment, osteoporosis, and platyspondyly. To analyze candidate genes of connective tissue disorders as a possible underlying disorder and to demonstrate especially the ocular phenotype.

Design: Observational case series.

X-linked retinitis pigmentosa: RPGR mutations in most families with definite X linkage and clustering of mutations in a short sequence stretch of exon ORF15.

Purpose: A comprehensive screening was conducted for RP2 and retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator (RPGR) gene mutations including RPGR exon ORF15 in 58 index patients. The frequency of RPGR mutations was assessed in families with definite X-linked recessive disease (xlRP), and a strategy for analyzing the highly repetitive mutational hot spot in exon ORF15 is provided.

Methods: Fifty-eight apparently unrelated index-patients were screened for mutations in all coding exons of the RP2 and the RPGR genes, including splice-sites, by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis, except for RPGR exon ORF15.

Ancestral founder of mutation W283X in the porphobilinogen deaminase gene among acute intermittent porphyria patients.

Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is a low-penetrant autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in the porphobilinogen deaminase gene (PBGD). Nearly 60% of all Swiss AIP patients carry a nonsense mutation W283X (G(7916)-->A). In France, the prevalence of W283X is <5%.

A full-coverage, high-resolution human chromosome 22 genomic microarray for clinical and research applications.

We have constructed the first comprehensive microarray representing a human chromosome for analysis of DNA copy number variation. This chromosome 22 array covers 34.7 Mb, representing 1.

Thirty distinct CACNA1F mutations in 33 families with incomplete type of XLCSNB and Cacna1f expression profiling in mouse retina.

X-linked CSNB patients may exhibit myopia, nystagmus, strabismus and ERG abnormalities of the Schubert-Bornschein type. We recently identified the retina-specific L-type calcium channel alpha1 subunit gene CACNA1F localised to the Xp11.23 region, which is mutated in families showing the incomplete type (CSNB2).