PCR based diagnosis of 21-hydroxylase gene defects in Slovak patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse 21-hydroxylase gene for 8 most common mutations in patients with salt-wasting type of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. METHODS: Allele specific PCR performed on 8 salt-wasting CAH patients and their 23 healthy relatives. RESULTS: Two patients were homozygous for 8 bp deletion in exon 3, while 6 patients were homozygous for intron 2 splice mutation. Mutant allele for splice mutation was found also in both parents of patients with this type of mutation. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results show that only two mutations, 8 bp deletion in exon 3 and splice mutation in intron 2, were present in this group of Slovak patients with salt-wasting type of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

[Indirect diagnosis of type I neurofibromatosis using RFLP in Slovak families]. / Nepriama diagnostika neurofibromatózy typ 1 pomocou RFLP v slovenských rodinách.

Neurofibromatosis type I clinical diagnosis confirmation as well as antenatal diagnostics of the disease are recently provided by molecular genetics. The authors analyze 17 Slovak families with multiple NFI incidence, in whom the detection of mutated gene transfer was performed using indirect diagnostics-bound with of restrictive fragments length polymorphism RFLP. With the help of PCR 7 polymorphic sequencies were amplified and subsequently broken with restrictive endonucleases localized close to the neurofibrin gene. The system informative capacity was comparable with the results of other Caucasian population studies. Although direct detection of mutation is the perspective of the diagnostics, binding analysis in informative families with multiple incidence of the disease provides reliable and cheaper possibility of NFI diagnostic on the level of DNA analysis. (Tab. 1, Fig. 3, Ref. 26.)

[Detection and diagnosis of hereditary monogenic neurologic diseases in Slovakia]. / Záchytnost a diagnostika dedicných monogénne podmienených neurologických ochorení na Slovensku.

Authors present a clinical symptoms recapitulation of the most important monogenic hereditary neuromuscular diseases, their molecular-genetic causes and the possibilities of diagnostic on the level of DNA analysis. Low detectability of these pathologic states in Slovak republic is stressed and possible causes of this state are analyzed. (Ref. 10.)

[Diagnosis of Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy in Slovak patients using multiplex polymerase chain reaction]. / Diagnostika Duchenneovej a Beckerovej muskulárnej dystrofie pomocou mnohonásobnej polymerázovej retazovej reakcie u slovenských pacientov.

The authors of the paper describe the diagnostic method of deletion in the dystrophin gene by means of an improved variant of the polymerase chain reaction--so called multiplex PCR. The authors analyzed a group of 66 patients with developed clinical symptoms of the disease. The deletion screening included 22 exones of the dystrophine gene and it was performed in 5 multiplex PCR reactions. 20 patients yielded a verified deletion which was pre-assessed by Southern's hybridization. The relative simplicity of multiplex PCR which does not require the use of radioisotopes, its low time and financial needs, make this method to represents an appropriate alternative of Southern's hybridization in the assessment of deletion of the dystrophine gene. (Fig. 1, Ref. 19.)

[Presence of Y-specific sequences in patients with Turner syndrome as a presymptomatic marker of increased risk of gonadoblastoma]. / Prítomnost Y-specifických sekvencií u pacientok s Turnerovým syndrómom ako presymptomatický marker zvýseného rizika gonadoblastómu.

The risk of the origin of neoplasms in patients with gonadal dysgenesis and the presence of Y chromosome mosaicism has been known for a long period. The majority of hidden mosaicism is however not detectable by means of cytogenetic methods. The authors of this study deal with the detection of Y specific chromosomal sequences in 86 patients with Turner syndrome by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and compare the results of this method with cytogenetic findings. The presence of Y specific sequences was proven in 8 patients (9.3%) which correlates with the results of several recent studies. In two cases, the Y chromosome fragment was verified also cytogenetically, in five patients, the diagnose was made more accurate at an originally non-specified marker, and in two cases, the cytogenetic examination has assessed the finding of X chromosome only. PCR is a more sensitive and a more precise method of the assessment of Y chromosome mosaicism in patients with Turner syndrome enabling more effectively to single out persons under the risk of rudimentary gonads gonadoblastoma development. (Fig. 5, Ref. 32.)