Generation and subsequently accessibility of secondary findings (SF) in diagnostic practice is a subject of debate around the world and particularly in Europe. The French FIND study has been set up to assess patient/parent expectations regarding SF from exome sequencing (ES) and to collect their real-life experience until 1 year after the delivery of results. 340 patients who had ES for undiagnosed developmental disorders were included in this multicenter mixed study (quantitative N = 340; qualitative N = 26).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCentral nervous system (CNS) dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVF) have been reported in PTEN-related hamartoma tumor syndrome (PHTS). However, PHTS-associated DAVF remain an underexplored field of the PHTS clinical landscape. Here, we studied cases with a PTEN pathogenic variant identified between 2007 and 2020 in our laboratory (n = 58), and for whom brain imaging was available.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders have long been considered as different clinical and molecular entities, and only a few genes are known to be involved in both processes. The (interferon regulatory factor 2 binding protein like) gene was implicated in a severe pediatric phenotype characterized by developmental and epileptic encephalopathy and early regression. In parallel, inherited variants have been reported in cohorts of patients with late-onset progressive dystonic and ataxic syndrome with few information about the neurodevelopment of these patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoffin-Siris syndrome (CSS) is a rare multisystemic autosomal dominant disorder. Since 2012, alterations in genes of the SWI/SNF complex were identified as the molecular basis of CSS, studying largely pediatric cohorts. Therefore, there is a lack of information on the phenotype in adulthood, particularly on the clinical outcome in adulthood and associated risks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: BCL11B-related disorder (BCL11B-RD) arises from rare genetic variants within the BCL11B gene, resulting in a distinctive clinical spectrum encompassing syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder, with or without intellectual disability, associated with facial features and impaired immune function. This study presents an in-depth clinico-biological analysis of 20 newly reported individuals with BCL11B-RD, coupled with a characterization of genome-wide DNA methylation patterns of this genetic condition.
Methods: Through an international collaboration, clinical and molecular data from 20 individuals were systematically gathered, and a comparative analysis was conducted between this series and existing literature.
Patients with rare or ultra-rare genetic diseases, which affect 350 million people worldwide, may experience a diagnostic odyssey. High-throughput sequencing leads to an etiological diagnosis in up to 50% of individuals with heterogeneous neurodevelopmental or malformation disorders. There is a growing interest in additional omics technologies in translational research settings to examine the remaining unsolved cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Low uptake of presymptomatic testing and medically assisted reproduction in families impacted by neurogenetic diseases prompted us to investigate how reproductive options are considered and whether there is a relationship with perceived severity of the disease. We hypothesised that self-estimated severity would influence opinion on reproductive options and that prenatal/preimplantation diagnosis would be a motivation to inform relatives about their risk.
Methods: We invited people impacted by neurogenetic diseases to evaluate the severity of their familial disease using analogic visual scales and to answer questionnaires about reproductive choices and intrafamilial communication.
Genet Med
October 2022
Purpose: Nonmuscle myosin II complexes are master regulators of actin dynamics that play essential roles during embryogenesis with vertebrates possessing 3 nonmuscle myosin II heavy chain genes, MYH9, MYH10, and MYH14. As opposed to MYH9 and MYH14, no recognizable disorder has been associated with MYH10. We sought to define the clinical characteristics and molecular mechanism of a novel autosomal dominant disorder related to MYH10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Biallelic loss-of-function variants in ST3GAL5 cause GM3 synthase deficiency (GM3SD) responsible for Amish infantile epilepsy syndrome. All Amish patients carry the homozygous p.(Arg288Ter) variant arising from a founder effect.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Genet Genomic Med
November 2021
Background: Terminal deletions of the long arm of chromosome 7 are well known and frequently associated with syndromic holoprosencephaly due to the involvement of the SHH (aliases HHG1, SMMCI, TPT, TPTPS, and MCOPCB5) gene region. However, interstitial deletions including CNTNAP2 (aliases Caspr2, KIAA0868, and NRXN4) and excluding the SHH region are less common.
Methods: We report the clinical and molecular characterization associated with pure 7q35 and 7q35q36.
The phenotypic spectrum of STXBP1-related encephalopathy ranges from infantile epileptic encephalopathy to intellectual disability with nonsyndromic or absent epilepsy. Although being frequently reported, the tremor associated with STXBP1 has not been fully characterized to date. The aim of our study was to describe it.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Variants in have recently been reported to cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with hypotonia, seizures and impaired language; however, only six variants have been reported and the clinical characteristics have only broadly been defined.
Methods: Molecular and clinical data were collected from clinical and research cohorts. Massive parallel sequencing was performed and identified individuals with a related neurodevelopmental disorder.
Purpose: Rare genetic variants in KDR, encoding the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), have been reported in patients with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). However, their role in disease causality and pathogenesis remains unclear.
Methods: We conducted exome sequencing in a familial case of TOF and large-scale genetic studies, including burden testing, in >1,500 patients with TOF.
Purpose: To investigate the effect of PLXNA1 variants on the phenotype of patients with autosomal dominant and recessive inheritance patterns and to functionally characterize the zebrafish homologs plxna1a and plxna1b during development.
Methods: We assembled ten patients from seven families with biallelic or de novo PLXNA1 variants. We describe genotype-phenotype correlations, investigated the variants by structural modeling, and used Morpholino knockdown experiments in zebrafish to characterize the embryonic role of plxna1a and plxna1b.
Purpose: Proline Rich 12 (PRR12) is a gene of unknown function with suspected DNA-binding activity, expressed in developing mice and human brains. Predicted loss-of-function variants in this gene are extremely rare, indicating high intolerance of haploinsufficiency.
Methods: Three individuals with intellectual disability and iris anomalies and truncating de novo PRR12 variants were described previously.
Witteveen-Kolk syndrome (OMIM 613406) is a recently defined neurodevelopmental syndrome caused by heterozygous loss-of-function variants in SIN3A. We define the clinical and neurodevelopmental phenotypes related to SIN3A-haploinsufficiency in 28 unreported patients. Patients with SIN3A variants adversely affecting protein function have mild intellectual disability, growth and feeding difficulties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF