Abstract: Introduction: The association of family cases of epilepsy and intellectual disability in women was reported in 1971. In 2008, the role of pathogenic variants of the PCDH19 gene in some families were identified. The disease presents with febrile seizure clusters, intellectual disability, and autistic features. Most cases are due to de novo variants, however, there are some inherited cases, with an atypical way of X-linked transmission. Objective: To report the case of a patient with epilepsy carrier of a pathogenic variant of the PCDH19 gene, reviewing the natural history of this condition and the available evidence for its management. Clinical Case: Female patient, with normal history of pregnancy and perinatal period. At 6 months, while febrile, she presented focal motor seizure clusters that repeated at 14, 18, 21 months and 3 years old, always associated with fever, even presenting status epilepticus. She is on therapy with topiramate and valproic acid, achieving 13 seizure-free years. The analysis of the SCN1A gene showed no abnormalities and the study of the PCDH19 gene revealed a de novo heterozygous pathogenic variant. The patient evolved with intellectual disability and severe behavioral disorders that require mental health team support. Conclusions: PCDH19 pathogenic variants have varied phenotypic expression. The genetic diagnosis should be guided with the clinical features. Long-term psychiatric morbidity can be disabling.

Resumen: Introducción: La asociación de casos familiares de epilepsia y discapacidad intelectual (DI) en mujeres fue reportada en 1971. El año 2008, se identificó el rol de variantes patogénicas del gen PCDH19 en algunas familias. La enfermedad se presenta con crisis febriles en cluster, DI y rasgos autistas. La mayoría se debe a variantes de novo, pero hay algunos casos heredados por un modo peculiar de transmisión ligada X. Objetivo: Comunicar el caso de una paciente con epilepsia portadora de una variante patogénica en el gen PCDH1 9, revisando la historia natural de la enfermedad y la evidencia disponible para su ma nejo. Caso Clínico: Paciente femenina, con antecedentes de embarazo y período perinatal normal. A los 6 meses, estando febril, presentó crisis focales motoras en cluster que repitieron a los 14, 18, 21 meses y 3 años siempre asociadas a fiebre, presentando incluso estatus epiléptico. Mantiene biterapia con topiramato y ácido valproico, completando 13 años sin crisis. El estudio del gen SCN1A no mostró anomalías y el estudio del gen PCDH19 reveló una variante patogénica en heterocigosis, “de novo”. La paciente ha evolucionado con DI y alteraciones conductuales severas que requieren aten ción de salud mental. Conclusiones: Las variantes patogénicas PCDH19 tienen expresión fenotípica variada. El diagnóstico genético debe sospecharse con la clínica. La morbilidad psiquiátrica a largo plazo puede ser incapacitante.

Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome is a polymalformative entity due to the microdeletion in the distal region of the short arm of chromosome 4 (4p16.3), which produces a series of clinical manifestations that can vary depending on the type and size of the genetic defect in this contiguous gene syndrome. Five patients are presented, three of them female, all with the primary clinical findings, characterized by "Greek warrior helmet appearance" facial feature, growth retardation and psychomotor development delay. In addition to the partial deletion in the distal region of the short arm of chromosome 4, two additional genetic alterations were found in two patients, through the use of single nucleotide polymorphism arrays. The clinical characteristics of Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome are highlighted in order to guide the diagnosis, provide interdisciplinary medical care and, through its confirmation, provide adequate family genetic counseling.

El síndrome de Wolf-Hirschhorn es una entidad polimalformativa debida a la microdeleción en la región distal del brazo corto del cromosoma 4 (4p16.3), el cual produce una serie de manifestaciones clínicas, que pueden variar dependiendo del tipo y tamaño del defecto genético en este síndrome de genes contiguos. Se presentan cinco pacientes, tres de ellos de sexo femenino, todos con los hallazgos clínicos primordiales, con rasgo facial característico de "apariencia en casco de guerrero griego", retraso en el crecimiento y del desarrollo psicomotor. Además de la deleción parcial en la región distal del brazo corto del cromosoma 4, en dos pacientes, se encontraron alteraciones genéticas adicionales, mediante el uso de microarrays de polimorfismos de nucleótido único. Se resaltan las características clínicas del síndrome de Wolf-Hirschhorn con la finalidad de orientar el diagnóstico, brindar una atención médica interdisciplinaria y, a través de su confirmación, brindar un adecuado asesoramiento genético familiar.

Abstract Phenylketonuria (PKU, OMIM 261600) is predominantly caused by mutations in the PAH gene. One hundred and three Argentine PKU patients were studied by Sanger sequencing; 101 were completely characterized (90.3% were compound heterozygotes). Fifty-four different pathogenic variants were identified. Mutations were distributed all along the PAH gene but concentrated in exon 7 (26%), 12 (12%), 11 (10%), and 6 (10%). 77% were missense, and 77% affected the enzyme catalytic domain, nine mutations accounted for 57% of 179 studied alleles: p.Arg261Gln (Allele frequency(AF):10.6%), c.1066-11G>A (AF:9,5%), p.Arg408Trp (AF:8,3%), p.Tyr414Cys (AF:5,5%), p.Ala403Val, p.Val388Met, and p.Arg158Gln (AF: 5% each), p.Leu48Ser, and p.Ile65Thr (AF:4% each). The predicted phenotype was assigned by Guldberg´s arbitrary value (AV) and compared with the clinical phenotype based in tolerance to Phe intake. 29.1% (n:30) were hyperphenylalaninemias, 18.5% (n:19) mild-PKU, 27.2% (n:28) moderate-PKU and 25.2 % (n:26) classical-PKU. Genotype/phenotype correlation was statistically significant (p<0.001) Overall concordance was 62,5%: 93.3% in hyperphenylalaninemia, 64.7% in mild-PKU and 65.4% in classical patients. The moderate-PKU showed a weak concordance (17%) with milder AV prediction than clinical assessment. 74% of discordant moderate patients harbored p.Arg261Gln, and p.Val388Met. Our cohort is highly heterogeneous, with predominant Mediterranean influence (mainly Spanish), but with differences with other Latin-American countries.

Several new microdeletion and microduplication syndromes are emerging as disorders that have been proven to cause multisystem pathologies frequently associated with intellectual disability (ID), multiple congenital anomalies (MCA), autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and other phenotypic findings. In this paper, we review the "new" and emergent microdeletion and microduplication syndromes that have been described and recognized in recent years with the aim of summarizing their main characteristics and chromosomal regions involved. We decided to group them by genomic region and within these groupings have classified them into those that include ID, MCA, ASD or other findings. This review does not intend to be exhaustive but is rather a quick guide to help pediatricians, clinical geneticists, cytogeneticists and/or molecular geneticists.

The increased speed and decreasing cost of sequencing, along with an understanding of the clinical relevance of emerging information for patient management, has led to an explosion of potential applications in healthcare. Currently, SNP arrays and Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies are relatively new techniques used to scan genomes for gains and losses, losses of heterozygosity (LOH), SNPs, and indel variants as well as to perform complete sequencing of a panel of candidate genes, the entire exome (whole exome sequencing) or even the whole genome. As a result, these new high-throughput technologies have facilitated progress in the understanding and diagnosis of genetic syndromes and cancers, two disorders traditionally considered to be separate diseases but that can share causal genetic alterations in a group of developmental disorders associated with congenital malformations and cancer risk. The purpose of this work is to review these syndromes as an example of a group of disorders that has been included in a panel of genes for NGS analysis. We also highlight the relationship between development and cancer and underline the connections between these syndromes.

The most frequent epigenetic alterations in Wilms tumor (WT) occur at WT2, assigned to 11p15. WT2 consists of two domains: telomeric domain 1 (DMRH19) that contains the IGF2 gene and an imprinted maternally expressed transcript (H19) and centromeric domain 2 (KvDMR) that contains the genes KCNQ1, KCNQ1OT1 and CDKN1C. In this work, we used pyrosequencing and MS-MLPA to compare the methylation patterns of DMRH19/KvDMR in blood and tumor samples from 40 WT patients. Normal constitutional KvDMR methylation indicated that most of the epigenetic alterations in WT occur at DMRH19. Constitutional DMRH19 hypermethylation (HM DMRH19) was observed in two patients with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome. Pyrosequencing and MS-MLPA showed HM DMRH19 in 28/34 tumor samples: 16/34 with isolated HM DMRH19 and 12/34 with concomitant HM DMRH19 and KvDMR hypomethylation, indicating paternal uniparental disomy. With the exception of one blood sample, the MS-MLPA and pyrosequencing findings were concordant. Diffuse or focal anaplasia was present in five tumor samples and was associated with isolated somatic HM DMRH19 in four of them. Constitutional 11p15 methylation abnormalities were present in 5% of the samples and somatic abnormalities in the majority of tumors. Combined analysis of DMRH19/KvDMR by pyrosequencing and MS-MLPA is beneficial for characterizing epigenetic anomalies in WT, and MS-MLPA is useful and reliable for estimation of DNA methylation in a clinical setting.