Missense mutations of the fibrillin-1 gene in two Chinese patients with severe Marfan syndrome.

Objective: To describe two Chinese patients with severe forms of Marfan syndrome and to report findings of mutational analysis of the fibrillin-1 (FBN1) gene.

Methods: Two Chinese patients were studied, one suffering from Marfan syndrome of infantile onset and the other of neonatal onset. Their clinical features were described. Mutational analysis of the FBN1 gene was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique and direct sequencing of exons 23-32, where the mutational hotspots for severe forms of Marfan syndrome are located.

Results: Two missense mutations were successfully identified, a G3037A transition and an A3083T transversion, the latter being an unreported mutation.

Conclusion: Taking advantage of the clustering phenomenon of mutations in severe forms of marfan syndrome, one can identify FBN1 mutations in these patients by first screening the mutational hotspots, thus reducing the effort that would otherwise be much greater because of the size of the gene.