Cri-du-Chat Syndrome: Revealing a Familial Atypical Deletion in 5p

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Cri-du-chat syndrome is generally diagnosed when patients present a high-pitched cry at birth, microcephaly, ocular hypertelorism, and prominent nasal bridge. The karyotype is useful to confirm deletions in the short arm of chromosome 5 (5p–) greater than 10 Mb. In cases of smaller deletions, it is necessary to resort to other molecular techniques such as fluorescence in situ hybridization, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) or genomic array. <b><i>Case Presentation:</i></b> We report a family with an atypical deletion in 5p (mother and 2 children) and variable phenotypes compared with the literature. We applied a P064 MLPA kit to evaluate 5p– in the mother and the 2 children, and we used the Infinium CytoSNP-850K BeadChip genomic array to evaluate the siblings, an 11-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, to better define the 5p breakpoints. Both children presented a high-pitched cry at birth, but they did not present any of the typical physical features of 5p– syndrome. The MLPA technique with 5 probes for the 5p region revealed that the patients and their mother presented an atypical deletion with only 4 probes deleted (<i>TERT</i>_ex2, <i>TERT</i>_ex13, <i>CLPTM1L</i>, and <i>IRX4</i>). The genomic array performed in the siblings’ samples revealed a 6.2-Mb terminal deletion in 5p15.33p15.32, which was likely inherited from their mother, who presented similar molecular features, seen in MLPA. <b><i>Discussion:</i></b> The sparing of the <i>CTNND2</i> gene, which is associated with cerebral development, in both siblings may explain why these 2 patients had features such as better communication skills which most patients with larger 5p deletions usually do not present. In addition, both patients had smaller deletions than those found in patients with a typical 5p– phenotype. This report demonstrates the utility of genomic arrays as a diagnostic tool to better characterize atypical deletions in known syndromes such as 5p– syndrome, which will allow a better understanding of the genotype-phenotype correlations.

Investigação do Status Genômico da Metilação na Síndrome Cri Du Chat utilizando Arrays

“…Além disso, no estudo de (Almeida et al, 2022) foram descritos dois irmãos com SCDC, com fenótipo destinto, e com o mesmo tamanho de deleção herdada da mãe. Foi destacada a importância de investigar outras modificações acima da arquitetura genômica do cromossomo 5, como, por exemplo, o estudo da metilação do DNA, que também pode oferecer respostas para a investigação do fenótipo dos pacientes com 5p-e para avaliar a consequência das alterações estruturais do cromossomo 5.…”