• Acute lymphocytic leukemia with eosinophilia and unusual karyotype

      Rezk, S.; Wheelock, L.; Fletcher, J. A.; Oliveira, A. M.; Keuker, Christopher P.; Newburger, Peter E.; Xu, Bo; Woda, Bruce A.; Miron, Patricia M. (2006-06-01)
    • Clinical genetic testing for patients with autism spectrum disorders

      Shen, Yiping; Dies, Kira A.; Holm, Ingrid A.; Bridgemohan, Carolyn; Sobeih, Magdi M.; Caronna, Elizabeth B.; Miller, Karen J.; Frazier, Jean A.; Silverstein, Iris; Picker, Jonathan; et al. (2010-03-17)
      BACKGROUND: Multiple lines of evidence indicate a strong genetic contribution to autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Current guidelines for clinical genetic testing recommend a G-banded karyotype to detect chromosomal abnormalities and fragile X DNA testing, but guidelines for chromosomal microarray analysis have not been established. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cohort of 933 patients received clinical genetic testing for a diagnosis of ASD between January 2006 and December 2008. Clinical genetic testing included G-banded karyotype, fragile X testing, and chromosomal microarray (CMA) to test for submicroscopic genomic deletions and duplications. Diagnostic yield of clinically significant genetic changes was compared. RESULTS: Karyotype yielded abnormal results in 19 of 852 patients (2.23% [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.73%-2.73%]), fragile X testing was abnormal in 4 of 861 (0.46% [95% CI: 0.36%-0.56%]), and CMA identified deletions or duplications in 154 of 848 patients (18.2% [95% CI: 14.76%-21.64%]). CMA results for 59 of 848 patients (7.0% [95% CI: 5.5%-8.5%]) were considered abnormal, which includes variants associated with known genomic disorders or variants of possible significance. CMA results were normal in 10 of 852 patients (1.2%) with abnormal karyotype due to balanced rearrangements or unidentified marker chromosome. CMA with whole-genome coverage and CMA with targeted genomic regions detected clinically relevant copy-number changes in 7.3% (51 of 697) and 5.3% (8 of 151) of patients, respectively, both higher than karyotype. With the exception of recurrent deletion and duplication of chromosome 16p11.2 and 15q13.2q13.3, most copy-number changes were unique or identified in only a small subset of patients. CONCLUSIONS: CMA had the highest detection rate among clinically available genetic tests for patients with ASD. Interpretation of microarray data is complicated by the presence of both novel and recurrent copy-number variants of unknown significance. Despite these limitations, CMA should be considered as part of the initial diagnostic evaluation of patients with ASD.
    • EGFRvIII expression and PTEN loss synergistically induce chromosomal instability and glial tumors

      Li, Li; Dutra, Amalia; Pak, Evgenia; Labrie, Joseph E. III; Gerstein, Rachel M.; Pandolfi, Pier Paolo; Recht, Larry D.; Ross, Alonzo H. (2008-09-25)
      Glioblastomas often show activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and loss of PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10) tumor suppressor, but it is not known if these two genetic lesions act together to transform cells. To answer this question, we infected PTEN-/- neural precursor cells with a retrovirus encoding EGFRvIII, which is a constitutively activated receptor. EGFRvIII PTEN-/- cells formed highly mitotic tumors with nuclear pleomorphism, necrotic areas, and glioblastoma markers. The transformed cells showed increased cell proliferation, centrosome amplification, colony formation in soft agar, self-renewal, expression of the stem cell marker CD133, and resistance to oxidative stress and ionizing radiation. The RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) pathways were activated, and checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1), the DNA damage regulator, was phosphorylated at S280 by Akt, suppressing Chk1 phosphorylation at S345 in response to ionizing irradiation. The PTEN-/- cells showed low levels of DNA damage in the absence of irradiation, which was increased by EGFRvIII expression. Finally, secondary changes occurred during tumor growth in mice. Cells from these tumors showed decreased tumor latencies and additional chromosomal aberrations. Most of these tumor lines showed translocations of mouse chromosome 15. Intracranial injections of one of these lines led to invasive, glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive, nestin-positive tumors. These results provide a molecular basis for the occurrence of these two genetic lesions in brain tumors and point to a role in induction of genomic instability.
    • Genome-wide fetal aneuploidy detection by maternal plasma DNA sequencing

      Bianchi, Diana W.; Platt, Lawrence D.; Goldberg, James D.; Abuhamad, Alfred Z.; Sehnert, Amy J.; Rava, Richard P.; MatErnal BLood IS Source to Accurately diagnose fetal aneuploidy (MELISSA) Study Group; Moore Simas, Tiffany A. (2012-05-01)
      OBJECTIVE: To prospectively determine the diagnostic accuracy of massively parallel sequencing to detect whole chromosome fetal aneuploidy from maternal plasma. METHODS: Blood samples were collected in a prospective, blinded study from 2,882 women undergoing prenatal diagnostic procedures at 60 U.S. sites. An independent biostatistician selected all singleton pregnancies with any abnormal karyotype and a balanced number of randomly selected pregnancies with euploid karyotypes. Chromosome classifications were made for each sample by massively parallel sequencing and compared with fetal karyotype. RESULTS: Within an analysis cohort of 532 samples, the following were classified correctly: 89 of 89 trisomy 21 cases (sensitivity 100%, 95% [confidence interval] CI 95.9-100), 35 of 36 trisomy 18 cases (sensitivity 97.2%, 95% CI 85.5-99.9), 11 of 14 trisomy 13 cases (sensitivity 78.6%, 95% CI 49.2-95.3), [corrected] 232 of 233 females (sensitivity 99.6%, 95% CI 97.6 to more than 99.9), 184 of 184 males (sensitivity 100%, 95% CI 98.0-100), and 15 of 16 monosomy X cases (sensitivity 93.8%, 95% CI 69.8-99.8). There were no false-positive results for autosomal aneuploidies (100% specificity, 95% CI more than 98.5 to 100). In addition, fetuses with mosaicism for trisomy 21 (3/3), trisomy 18 (1/1), and monosomy X (2/7), three cases of translocation trisomy, two cases of other autosomal trisomies (20 and 16), and other sex chromosome aneuploidies (XXX, XXY, and XYY) were classified correctly. CONCLUSION: This prospective study demonstrates the efficacy of massively parallel sequencing of maternal plasma DNA to detect fetal aneuploidy for multiple chromosomes across the genome. The high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of trisomies 21, 18, 13, and monosomy X suggest that massively parallel sequencing can be incorporated into existing aneuploidy screening algorithms to reduce unnecessary invasive procedures. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, www.clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01122524. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II.
    • Preimplantation genetic diagnosis for a couple with recurrent pregnancy loss and triploidy

      Bar-Ami, Shalom; Seibel, Machelle M.; Pierce, Kenneth E.; Zilberstein, Moshe (2003-11-28)
      BACKGROUND: Triploidy may arise from fertilization of a mature haploid egg by two haploid sperm or by failure of meiotic divisions yielding a diploid gamete. We encountered a couple with habitual abortion, in which the last two fetuses were documented as viable triploid. METHODS: To avoid dispermic penetration and development of abnormal preembryos, insemination was done by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) followed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of biopsied blastomeres. RESULTS: Tests of the husband's spermatozoa by FISH, revealed that only 2-3% of the sperm were disomic for chromosomes 16, 13, 21, X, and Y. No triple disomy was detected among chromosomes 16, 13 and 21, which makes it very unlikely that triploidy resulted from diploid spermatozoa. Following a controlled ovulation induction protocol, low quality oocytes with immature cumuli were revealed. After ICSI, five eggs became two pronuclei (2PN) zygotes and none of the other eggs developed a 3PN zygote. FISH was performed on chromosomes 16 and 21 in four preembryos developed to a 6-8 cell stage. Aneuploidy or mosaicism for each of these chromosomes was detected in one preembryo and later in two disaggregated blastocysts. FISH failed in one preembryo that became atretic after biopsy. CONCLUSIONS: Although this case was unsuccessful in achieving embryo transfer and normal pregnancy, we detected many abnormal morphological features in the oocytes and chromosomal abnormalities in the cleaving preembryos. This protocol can be proposed to patients with recurrent pregnancy loss associated with chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus.
    • Triploid mosaicism in a 45,X/69,XXY infant

      Quigley, Denise I.; McDonald, Marie T.; Krishnamuthy, Vidya; Kishnani, Priya S.; Lee, Mary M.; Haqq, Andrea M.; Goodman, Barbara K. (2005-09-10)
      We report on an infant referred for chromosome analysis during the neonatal period due to ambiguous genitalia. The genitalia appeared male with bilaterally palpable testes, penoscrotal hypospadias, chordee, and a bifid scrotum. Chromosome analysis and interphase FISH analysis of lymphocytes showed a 45,X karyotype and no evidence for SRY in 200 nuclei examined, respectively. Subsequent chromosome analysis of fibroblasts revealed a 69,XXY karyotype. Molecular studies were carried out to determine the etiology of the chromosome findings. Results indicated that the two cell lines are mosaic rather than chimeric and that the triploidy resulted from delayed dispermy rather than delayed polar body inclusion. To our knowledge this is the first reported living individual with (near) diploid/triploid mosaicism for 45,X/69,XXY.