Old gene, new phenotype: Splicing altering variants in CEACAM16 cause recessive non-syndromic hearing impairment

CEACAM16 is an adhesion protein that plays a critical role in ensuring proper auditory function.  Defects in this protein have been linked to dominant hearing loss through a dominant-negative mechanism. Here we report that novel splice-altering variants in CEACAM16 gene are associated with autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss. Our findings broaden the pathogenic mechanisms of […]

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Genetic and phenotypic difference in CD8+ T cell exhaustion between chronic hepatitis B infection and hepatocellular carcinoma

To date, few studies have investigated the differences in T cell exhaustion between chronic infection and cancer. In this study, we assayed the phenotypes and functional states of CD8+ T cells separating from human chronic hepatitis B (CHB) tissues and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues, and re-analyze the single-cell sequencing data (GSE98638) of T cells from […]

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Current detection rates and time-to-detection of all identifiable BRCA carriers in the Greater London population

Women carrying a fault in BRCA1/BRCA2 genes are at increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Identification of BRCA-carriers through genetic testing offers opportunities of early diagnosis, targeted treatment and cancer prevention. Our study evaluated the current rate at which BRCA-carriers have been detected and the time it would take to detect all identifiable BRCA-carriers […]

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Chitayat-Hall and Schaaf-Yang syndromes: a common aetiology: expanding the phenotype of MAGEL2-related disorders

Chitayat-Hall syndrome (CHS) causes contractures of hands and feet, intellectual disability and growth hormone (GH) deficiency, among other features. GH deficiency leads to poor growth and may cause recurrent episodes of hypoglycemia, which can damage the developing brain if untreated. We identify mutations in MAGEL2, located within the Prader-Willi syndrome region at 15q11-q13, as the […]

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Functional and clinical relevance of novel mutations in a large cohort of patients with Cockayne syndrome

Cockayne Syndrome (CS) is a rare inherited disorder with severe problems of growth and development in many parts of the body, as well as causing sun-sensitivity. In a four-centre study from scientists in Nagoya, Japan, Strasbourg, France, Pavia, Italy and Sussex, UK, we have identified the genetic mutations causing the disorder in 124 CS patients […]

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Homozygous CHST11 mutation in chondrodysplasia, brachydactyly, overriding digits, clino-symphalangism and synpolydactyly

In a Pakistani family with limb malformations that include short fingers, cross fingers, fused fingers, fused finger bones, fused toes and supernumerary toes plus skeletal defects that include scoliosis, dislocated patellae and fibulae and pectus excavatum, we identified the underlying mutation as a homozygous five-amino acid deletion in protein CHST11. Our findings confirm the crucial […]

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Practice guideline: joint CCMG-SOGC recommendations for the use of chromosomal microarray analysis for prenatal diagnosis and assessment of fetal loss in Canada

This is an update of previous 2001 Canadian guidelines on how doctors and diagnostic lab specialists should use and interpret a technology called chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) when this test is done on human DNA during an ongoing pregnancy. The authors developed these guidelines after reading and interpreting up-to-date international literature in the field, and […]

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Hormonal, metabolic and skeletal phenotype of Schaaf-Yang syndrome: a comparison to Prader-Willi syndrome

For many chromosomal disorders, we wonder which of the genes within the critical region account for the main clinical features of the overall condition. In Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), which is caused by the absence of paternally expressed genes on chromosome 15, the role of the MAGEL2 gene has been highlighted by the identification of individuals […]

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