To date, over 70 mutations in the TGFBR2 gene have been reported in patients with Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS), Marfan syndrome type 2 (MFS2), or other hereditary thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. Whereas almost all of mutations analyzed thus far are predicted to disrupt the constitutively active C-terminal serine/threonine kinase domain of TGFBR2, mounting evidence suggests that the molecular mechanism underlying these diseases is more complex than simple haploinsufficiency. Using exon-targeted oligonucleotide array comparative genomic hybridization, we identified an ∼896 kb deletion of TGFBR2 in a 20-month-old female with microcephaly and global developmental delay, but no stigmata of LDS.
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