High recurrence of the R1006C NOTCH3 mutation in central Italian patients with cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL).

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a heritable small-vessel disease caused by mutations in NOTCH3 gene and clinically characterized by recurrent ischemic strokes, migraine with aura, psychiatric symptoms, cognitive decline and dementia. Direct sequencing of NOTCH3 gene in 90 Italian patients of sixty-three unrelated families identified four heterozygous mutations (R141C and C144F in exon 4, G528C in exon 10 and R1006C in exon 19) in fifteen probands and sixteen relatives. We detected seventeen heterozygous/homozygous polymorphisms, four of them novel.

Novel mutations in GCK and HNF1A genes in Italian families with MODY phenotype.

Analysis of GCK and HNF1A genes in 32 MODY families identified three novel mutations: the missense mutation G170D and the deletion/insertion P432Xfs in GCK and the splicing mutation IVS4nt-1G>T, in HNF1A. For IVS4nt-1G>T the sequence analysis of RT-PCR products demonstrated exon skipping with the use of a cryptic splicing site.