Publications by authors named "T M Kitzler"

Background: Primary ciliopathies are a heterogeneous group of rare disorders predominantly caused by autosomal-recessive genetic variants that disrupt non-motile ciliary function. They often manifest as a syndromic phenotype, frequently involving the kidney. Biallelic pathogenic variants in C2CD3 disrupt ciliogenesis and Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling, resulting in a severe ciliopathy (Orofaciodigital syndrome XIV, OMIM 615948).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on missense variants in the PKHD1 gene, which are linked to varying severity of autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD), highlighting how different genetic expressions can lead to diverse health outcomes in individuals.
  • It presents a case of two adult siblings who share biallelic missense variants but exhibit significantly different health experiences: one suffers from severe kidney complications and requires transplants, while the other maintains nearly normal kidney function into middle age.
  • The findings emphasize that specific genetic compositions, particularly those involving hypomorphic variants, may contribute to the inconsistent presentation of symptoms, or "phenotypic discordance," even among siblings.
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Developmental Delay with Gastrointestinal, Cardiovascular, Genitourinary, and Skeletal Abnormalities syndrome (DEGCAGS, MIM #619488) is caused by biallelic, loss-of-function (LoF) ZNF699 variants, and is characterized by variable neurodevelopmental disability, discordant organ anomalies among full siblings and infant mortality. ZNF699 encodes a KRAB zinc finger protein of unknown function. We aimed to investigate the genotype-phenotype spectrum of DEGCAGS and the possibility of a diagnostic DNA methylation episignature, to facilitate the diagnosis of a highly variable condition lacking pathognomonic clinical findings.

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Bardet-Biedl Syndrome (BBS) is an autosomal recessive non-motile ciliopathy, caused by mutations in more than twenty genes. Their expression leads to the production of BBSome-building proteins or chaperon-like proteins supporting its structure. The prevalence of the disease is estimated at 1: 140,000 - 160,000 of life births.

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