A French Approach to Test Fetuses with Ultrasound Abnormalities Using a Customized Microarray as First-Tier Genetic Test

2015 ◽  
Vol 147 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 103-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valérie Malan ◽  
Jean-Michel Lapierre ◽  
Matthieu Egloff ◽  
Didier Goidin ◽  
Marie-Paule Beaujard ◽  
...  

Cytogenetic microarray analysis is now the first-tier genetic test used in a postnatal clinical setting to explore genomic imbalances in individuals with developmental disability and/or birth defects. However, in a prenatal setting, this technique is not widely implemented, largely because the clinical impact of some copy number variants (CNVs) remains difficult to assess. This limitation is especially true in France where termination of pregnancy for medical reasons may be performed at any stage of gestation. During a period of 15 months, we investigated 382 fetuses presenting with ultrasound anomalies, using a customized microarray designed to avoid the detection of CNVs raising challenges for genetic counseling. After excluding common aneuploidies, 20/374 (5.3%) fetuses had a pathogenic CNV, among which 12/374 (3.2%) could have been detected by karyotyping, whereas 8/374 (2.1%) were cryptic. Within these 374 cases, 300 were ongoing pregnancies at the time of array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) testing. For these pregnancies, we detected 18/300 (6%) pathogenic CNVs, among which 6/300 (2%) were cryptic. Using this approach, only 2/300 (0.6%) of the detected CNVs raised difficulties for genetic counseling. This study confirms the added value of this strategy in a prenatal clinical setting to minimize ethical issues for genetic counseling while enhancing the detection of genomic imbalances.

2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thais K. Homma ◽  
Ana C.V. Krepischi ◽  
Tatiane K. Furuya ◽  
Rachel S. Honjo ◽  
Alexsandra C. Malaquias ◽  
...  

Background/Aims: Genetic imbalances are responsible for many cases of short stature of unknown etiology. This study aims to identify recurrent pathogenic copy number variants (CNVs) in patients with syndromic short stature of unknown cause. Methods: We selected 229 children with short stature and dysmorphic features, developmental delay, and/or intellectual disability, but without a recognized syndrome. All patients were evaluated by chromosomal microarray (array-based comparative genomic hybridization/single nucleotide polymorphism array). Additionally, we searched databases and previous studies to recover recurrent pathogenic CNVs associated with short stature. Results: We identified 32 pathogenic/probably pathogenic CNVs in 229 patients. By reviewing the literature, we selected 4 previous studies which evaluated CNVs in cohorts of patients with short stature. Taken together, there were 671 patients with short stature of unknown cause evaluated by chromosomal microarray. Pathogenic/probably pathogenic CNVs were identified in 87 patients (13%). Seven recurrent CNVs, 22q11.21, 15q26, 1p36.33, Xp22.33, 17p13.3, 1q21.1, 2q24.2, were observed. They are responsible for about 40% of all pathogenic/probably pathogenic genomic imbalances found in short stature patients of unknown cause. Conclusion: CNVs seem to play a significant role in patients with short stature. Chromosomal microarray should be used as a diagnostic tool for evaluation of growth disorders, especially for syndromic short stature of unknown cause.


2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Marian Grade ◽  
Heinz Becker ◽  
Torsten Liersch ◽  
Thomas Ried ◽  
B. Michael Ghadimi

Chromosomal aberrations play a dominant role in colorectal carcinogenesis. The application of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) based techniques such as comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and spectral karyotyping (SKY) revealed that colorectal carcinomas are characterized by a specific pattern of chromosomal imbalances which sequentially accumulate during cancer progression. This review aims to summarize molecular cytogenetic studies, provides a background on the functional relevance of chromosomal aberrations for colorectal cancer progression and discusses their potential clinical impact.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia F. Del Gobbo ◽  
Yue Yin ◽  
Sanaa Choufani ◽  
Emma A. Butcher ◽  
John Wei ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is associated with increased risks for complications before, during, and after birth, in addition to risk of disease through to adulthood. Although placental insufficiency, failure to supply the fetus with adequate nutrients, underlies most cases of FGR, its causes are diverse and not fully understood. One of the few diagnosable causes of placental insufficiency in ongoing pregnancies is the presence of large chromosomal imbalances such as trisomy confined to the placenta; however, the impact of smaller copy number variants (CNVs) has not yet been adequately addressed. In this study, we confirm the importance of placental aneuploidy, and assess the potential contribution of CNVs to fetal growth. Methods We used molecular-cytogenetic approaches to identify aneuploidy in placentas from 101 infants born small-for-gestational age (SGA), typically used as a surrogate for FGR, and from 173 non-SGA controls from uncomplicated pregnancies. We confirmed aneuploidies and assessed mosaicism by microsatellite genotyping. We then profiled CNVs using high-resolution microarrays in a subset of 53 SGA and 61 control euploid placentas, and compared the load, impact, gene enrichment and clinical relevance of CNVs between groups. Candidate CNVs were confirmed using quantitative PCR. Results Aneuploidy was over tenfold more frequent in SGA-associated placentas compared to controls (11.9% vs. 1.1%; p = 0.0002, OR = 11.4, 95% CI 2.5–107.4), was confined to the placenta, and typically involved autosomes, whereas only sex chromosome abnormalities were observed in controls. We found no significant difference in CNV load or number of placental-expressed or imprinted genes in CNVs between SGA and controls, however, a rare and likely clinically-relevant germline CNV was identified in 5.7% of SGA cases. These CNVs involved candidate genes INHBB, HSD11B2, CTCF, and CSMD3. Conclusions We conclude that placental genomic imbalances at the cytogenetic and submicroscopic level may underlie up to ~ 18% of SGA cases in our population. This work contributes to the understanding of the underlying causes of placental insufficiency and FGR, which is important for counselling and prediction of long term outcomes for affected cases.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Waespe ◽  
Santhosh Dhanraj ◽  
Manju Wahala ◽  
Elena Tsangaris ◽  
Tom Enbar ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
J. Hertzberg ◽  
S. Mundlos ◽  
M. Vingron ◽  
G. Gallone

AbstractThe computational prediction of disease-associated genetic variation is of fundamental importance for the genomics, genetics and clinical research communities. Whereas the mechanisms and disease impact underlying coding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and small Insertions/Deletions (InDels) have been the focus of intense study, little is known about the corresponding impact of structural variants (SVs), which are challenging to detect, phase and interpret. Few methods have been developed to prioritise larger chromosomal alterations such as Copy Number Variants (CNVs) based on their pathogenicity. We address this issue with TADA, a method to prioritise pathogenic CNVs through manual filtering and automated classification, based on an extensive catalogue of functional annotation supported by rigorous enrichment analysis. We demonstrate that our machine-learning classifiers for deletions and duplications are able to accurately predict pathogenic CNVs (AUC: 0.8042 and 0.7869, respectively) and produce a well-calibrated pathogenicity score. The combination of enrichment analysis and classifications suggests that prioritisation of pathogenic CNVs based on functional annotation is a promising approach to support clinical diagnostic and to further the understanding of mechanisms that control the disease impact of larger genomic alterations.


Author(s):  
George Kirov ◽  
Michael C. O’Donovan ◽  
Michael J. Owen

Several submicroscopic genomic deletions and duplications known as copy number variants (CNVs) have been reported to increase susceptibility to schizophrenia. Those for which the evidence is particularly strong include deletions at chromosomal segments 1q21.1, 3q29, 15q11.2, 15q13.3, 17q12 and 22q11.2, duplications at 15q11.2-q13.1, 16p13.1, and 16p11.2, and deletions atthe gene NRXN1. The effect of each on individual risk is relatively large, but it does not appear that any of them is alone sufficient to cause disorder in carriers. These CNVs often arise as new mutations(de novo). Analyses of genes enriched among schizophrenia implicated CNVs highlight the involvement in the disorder of post-synaptic processes relevant to glutamatergicsignalling, cognition and learning. CNVs that contribute to schizophrenia risk also contribute to other neurodevelopmental disorders, including intellectual disability, developmental delay and autism. As a result of selection, all known pathogenic CNVs are rare, and none makes a sizeable contribution to overall population risk of schizophrenia, although the study of these mutations is nevertheless providing important insights into the origins of the disorder.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document