MTHFR C677T and A1298C variants in Mexican Mestizo infants with neural tube defects from Western Mexico.

Our study investigated the role of MTHFR C677T and A1298C variants in infants with neural tube defects (NTDs) from western Mexico. Using TaqMan allelic discrimination assay, we genotyped 101 live-born patients with NTDs (cases) and 247 controls. Our findings do not support that homozygosity or heterozygosity for the variants C677T and A1298C in the MTHFR gene are associated with NTDs in infants. However, since we have the highest worldwide frequency of homozygotes for the MTHFR C677T variant, we cannot rule out that our propensity for NTDs may be related to how such gene variant interacts with other factors, mainly with our secular patterns of inappropriate folate intake.

Third case of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and West syndrome: Expanding the spectrum of the DMD neuropsychiatric phenotype.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an X-Linked neuromuscular disorder, and the most common muscular dystrophy. Neuropsychiatric phenotype associated to DMD gene mutations include now low IQ scores, epilepsy, autism, and attention deficit disorder. These have been observed with higher frequency in mutations that disrupt the short isoforms Dp71 and Dp140. West syndrome has been previously reported in two unrelated patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Here, we report the third patient with West syndrome who had a novel hemizygous nonsense pathogenic variant in the exon 8 of the DMD gene c.811C>T, p.(Gln271*), suggesting West syndrome as part of the neuropsychiatric spectrum in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Complete blood count differences in a cohort of Down syndrome neonates with transient abnormal myelopoiesis screened for GATA1 pathogenic variants.

Transient abnormal myelopoiesis (TAM) raises the risk for acute myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome (DS) (ML-DS), and both are related to GATA1 pathogenic variants. Here, we analyzed which findings on complete blood count (CBC) are associated with TAM in a cohort of neonates with DS screened for GATA1 pathogenic variants. The CBCs were compared among 70 newborns with DS, including 16 patients (22.9%) with TAM (cases), and 54 patients (77.1%) without TAM (controls). TAM was defined as peripheral circulating blasts (PCBs) ≥ 1%. PCR and direct sequencing were used to screen DNA samples from peripheral blood for GATA1 exon 2 mutations. Multivariate logistic regression analyses determined that the mean count of lymphocytes was significantly higher in DS infants with TAM (p = .035) and that lymphocytosis confers a risk for TAM (adjusted odds ratio = 7.23, 95% confidence intervals: 2.02-25.92). Pathogenic variants of GATA1 were identified in 2 of 70 analyzed DS neonates (2.9%), of which one had ML-DS and another had an asymptomatic TAM. Among those DS infants with TAM, the GATA1 pathogenic variant detection was 12.5%. Our results indicated that lymphocytosis is associated with TAM in neonates with DS. However, since not all infants with an abnormal CBC had TAM, and not all infants with TAM had GATA1 pathogenic variants, we emphasize that only the search for GATA1 pathogenic variants allows the proper identification of the subgroup of DS infants with a real increasing in risk for ML-DS.