A novel de novo truncating variant in a Hungarian patient with CTNNB1 neurodevelopmental disorder

We aimed to elucidate the underlying disease in a Hungarian family, with only one affected family member, a 16-year-old male Hungarian patient, who developed global developmental delay, cognitive impairment, behavioral problems, short stature, intermittent headaches, recurrent dizziness, strabismus, hypermetropia, complex movement disorder and partial pituitary dysfunction. After years of detailed clinical investigations and careful pediatric care, the exact diagnosis of the patient and the cause of the disease was still unknown.We aimed to perform whole exome sequencing (WES) in order to investigate whether the affected patient is suffering from a rare monogenic disease.Using WES, we identified a novel, de novo frameshift variant (c.1902dupG, p.Ala636SerfsTer12) of the catenin beta-1 (CTNNB1) gene. Assessment of the novel CTNNB1 variant suggested that it is a likely pathogenic one and raised the diagnosis of CTNNB1 neurodevelopmental disorder (OMIM 615,075).Our manuscript may contribute to the better understanding of the genetic background of the recently discovered CTNNB1 neurodevelopmental disorder and raise awareness among clinicians and geneticists. The affected Hungarian family demonstrates that based on the results of the clinical workup is difficult to establish the diagnosis and high-throughput genetic screening may help to solve these complex cases

MECP2-gén-duplikáció gyermekkori és praenatalis diagnózisa

A MECP2 -duplikációs szindróma (Lubs-féle mentális fejlődési zavar) X-kromoszómához kötött öröklődésmenetet mutató ritka kórállapot, amely hemizigóta fiúkban mindig előidéz klinikai tüneteket, míg az eltérést hordozó nők általában tünetmentesek, bár ritkán a nőkben is kialakulhatnak változatos súlyosságú tünetek. Az általunk vizsgált 6 éves leány genetikai konzíliumát mozgás- és beszédfejlődésben észlelt elmaradás miatt kérte a gyermekneurológus szakorvos. A proband kislány kromoszómavizsgálata normál női karyotypust mutatott. A P245 microdeletiós szindrómára specifikus 1A-próbamixszel végzett multiplex ligatiofüggő próbaamplifikációs (MLPA-) vizsgálat az Xq28 kromoszomális régióban a MECP2-4b, MECP2-3, valamint MECP2-1 próbák területén heterozigóta duplikációt jelzett. Az Xq28 kromoszomális régióra specifikus fluoreszcens in situ hibridizációs (FISH-) vizsgálat során nem tapasztaltunk duplikációt. A családtagok közül a beteg egészséges leánytestvére és édesapja, valamint leány féltestvére nem bizonyult MLPA-vizsgálattal MECP2 -duplikációsnak. A tüneteket mutató édesanyánál a proband genotípusával megegyező eltérést azonosítottunk. Az édesanya újabb párkapcsolatából fogant várandósságában elvégzett magzati MLPA-vizsgálat a fiúmagzatban kimutatta a családban azonosított MECP2 -duplikációt, a kariotipizálás pedig 21-triszómiát mutatott. A várandós nő a két egymástól független magzati kórállapot miatt kérte a terhesség megszakítását. Az általunk bemutatott eset tanulsága, hogy nem tisztázott fejlődési elmaradással jelentkező páciensek esetén a G-sáv-technikával elvégzett karyotypus-elemzés megfelelő MLPA-vizsgálattal történő kiegészítése segíthet a genotípus-fenotípus összefüggések felállításában és genetikai diagnózis esetén a praenatalis diagnosztika megszervezésében. Orv Hetil. 2024; 165(1): 30–34

Whole-Exome Sequencing Identified Two Novel Pathogenic Mutations in the PTCH1 Gene in BCNS

Basal cell nevus syndrome (BCNS, OMIM 109400) is a familial cancer syndrome characterized by the development of numerous basal cell cancers and various other developmental abnormalities, including epidermal cysts of the skin, calcified dural folds, keratocysts of the jaw, palmar and plantar pits, ovarian fibromas, medulloblastomas, lymphomesenteric cysts, and fetal rhabdomyomas. BCNS shows autosomal dominant inheritance and is caused by mutations in the patched 1 (PTCH1) gene and the suppressor of the fused homolog (SUFU) gene. In a few cases, variants of patched 2 (PTCH2) have been found in patients who met the criteria for BCNS. In an investigation of 11 Hungarian families who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for BCNS, whole-exome sequencing (WES) and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) identified two novel pathogenic variants (c.2994C>A; p.Cys998Ter and c.814_818del; p.Asn272SerfsTer11), one recently identified variant (c.1737_1745del p.Val580_Val582del), and three recurrent disease-causing variants of the PTCH1 gene with a diagnosis rate of 63.6%. Disease-causing variants were not found for the SUFU and PTCH2 genes. These applied methods could not fully elucidate the genetic background of all the BCNS cases that we investigated. To uncover the missing heritability of BCNS, whole-genome sequencing or an epigenetic approach might be considered in the future

Tocilizumab for patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. The single-arm TOCIVID-19 prospective trial

BackgroundTocilizumab blocks pro-inflammatory activity of interleukin-6 (IL-6), involved in pathogenesis of pneumonia the most frequent cause of death in COVID-19 patients.MethodsA multicenter, single-arm, hypothesis-driven trial was planned, according to a phase 2 design, to study the effect of tocilizumab on lethality rates at 14 and 30 days (co-primary endpoints, a priori expected rates being 20 and 35%, respectively). A further prospective cohort of patients, consecutively enrolled after the first cohort was accomplished, was used as a secondary validation dataset. The two cohorts were evaluated jointly in an exploratory multivariable logistic regression model to assess prognostic variables on survival.ResultsIn the primary intention-to-treat (ITT) phase 2 population, 180/301 (59.8%) subjects received tocilizumab, and 67 deaths were observed overall. Lethality rates were equal to 18.4% (97.5% CI: 13.6-24.0, P=0.52) and 22.4% (97.5% CI: 17.2-28.3, P<0.001) at 14 and 30 days, respectively. Lethality rates were lower in the validation dataset, that included 920 patients. No signal of specific drug toxicity was reported. In the exploratory multivariable logistic regression analysis, older age and lower PaO2/FiO2 ratio negatively affected survival, while the concurrent use of steroids was associated with greater survival. A statistically significant interaction was found between tocilizumab and respiratory support, suggesting that tocilizumab might be more effective in patients not requiring mechanical respiratory support at baseline.ConclusionsTocilizumab reduced lethality rate at 30 days compared with null hypothesis, without significant toxicity. Possibly, this effect could be limited to patients not requiring mechanical respiratory support at baseline.Registration EudraCT (2020-001110-38); clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04317092)