LEOPARD syndrome (PTPN11, T468M) in three boys fulfilling neurofibromatosis type 1 clinical criteria.

Noonan syndrome (NS) and neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) are well-defined entities. The association of both disorders is called neurofibromatosis-Noonan syndrome (NFNS), a disorder that has been related to mutations in the NF1 gene. Both NS and NFNS display phenotypic overlapping with LEOPARD syndrome (LS), and differential diagnosis between these two entities often represents a challenge for clinicians.

Carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia must identify 'apparently mild' CYP21A2 alleles which associate neonatal salt-wasting disease.

Objective: Couples at risk of severe congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) may be offered prenatal treatment or preimplantation diagnosis. However, proper genetic counselling requires the accurate identification of apparently 'mild alleles' in partners of CAH-carriers/patients.

Methods: CYP21A2 gene analyses were performed in 255 patients with severe 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD), 94 with mild 21-OHD, 752 parental samples, 233 clinically unaffected partners and 253 historic DNA samples.

[Simple virilizing forms of congenital adrenal hyperplasia: adaptation and prospective validation of the molecular screening].

Background And Objective: Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) is not an infrequent genetic disorder for which mutation-based analysis for CYP21A2 gene is a useful tool. Contrarily to salt-wasting forms the basic mutation screening accounts only for 83% of simple virilising (SV) phenotypes. Rare alleles with a local distribution not included in the basic panel may reduce its diagnostic accuracy.

Gene duplications in 21-hydroxylase deficiency: the importance of accurate molecular diagnosis in carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis.

Background: The detection of 21-OH deficiency (21OHD) carriers in the general population requires that misinterpretations of apparently severe mutations in alleles carrying duplicated genes be avoided. Prenatal treatment prevents virilization in female fetuses and genetic counseling may be offered to couples in which one partner is either a patient or a carrier. This paper proposes a semiquantitative PCR method involving primer extension that distinguishes the severe point mutation Q318X in single gene copy alleles from the normal/nondeficient variant in gene-duplicated alleles.