A de novo 10p11.23-p12.1 deletion recapitulates the phenotype observed in WAC mutations and strengthens the role of WAC in intellectual disability and behavior disorders.

Chromosomal microarray analysis has become a powerful diagnostic tool in the investigation of patients with intellectual disability leading to the discovery of dosage sensitive genes implicated in the manifestation of various genomic disorders. Interstitial deletions of the short arm of chromosome 10 represent rare genetic abnormalities, especially those encompassing the chromosomal region 10p11-p12. To date, only 10 postnatal cases with microdeletion of this region have been described, and all patients shared a common phenotype, including intellectual disability, abnormal behavior, distinct dysmorphic features, visual impairment, and cardiac malformations. WAC was suggested to be the main candidate gene for intellectual disability associated with 10 p11-p12 deletion syndrome. Here, we describe a new case of de novo 10p11.23-p12.1 microdeletion in a patient with intellectual disability, abnormal behavior, and distinct dysmorphic features. Our observation allows us to redefine the smallest region of overlap among patients reported so far, with a size of 80 Kb and which contains only the WAC gene. These findings strengthen the hypothesis that haploinsufficency of WAC gene might be likely responsible for intellectual disability and behavior disorders. Our data also led us to propose a clinical pathway for patients with this recognizable genetic syndrome depending on the facial dysmorphisms. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Pure familial 6q21q22.1 duplication in two generations.

Familial transmissions of unbalanced chromosomal abnormalities are rare. We report here the first case of a maternally inherited pure partial duplication of the long arm of chromosome 6 [46,XX,dup(6)(q21q22.1)mat]. The proband was referred for karyotyping as she presented intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), moderate mental retardation and facial dysmorphism. Molecular cytogenetics analysis with various BACs showed a duplication of 5-10 Mb between 6q21 and 6q22.1. The proband's mother was found to have the same chromosome abnormality and a similar phenotype, but less severe dysmorphism. This variability in clinical findings between generations may have several causes, including attenuation with aging, imprinting or mosaicism. Only three other cases of pure partial 6q duplication similar to that of our case have been reported. The available information for all four cases was used to refine the karyotype-phenotype correlations for duplications of the 6q21q22 segment.