Novel MLPA procedure using self-designed probes allows comprehensive analysis for CNVs of the genes involved in Hirschsprung disease.
BACKGROUND
Hirschsprung disease is characterized by the absence of intramural ganglion cells in the enteric plexuses, due to a fail during enteric nervous system formation. Hirschsprung has a complex genetic aetiology and mutations in several genes have been related to the disease. There is a clear predominance of missense/nonsense mutations in these genes whereas copy number variations (CNVs) have been seldom described, probably due to the limitations of conventional techniques usually employed for mutational analysis. In this study, we have looked for CNVs in some of the genes related to Hirschsprung (EDNRB, GFRA1, NRTN and PHOX2B) using the Multiple Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) approach.


METHODS
CNVs screening was performed in 208 HSCR patients using a self-designed set of MLPA probes, covering the coding region of those genes.


RESULTS
A deletion comprising the first 4 exons in GFRA1 gene was detected in 2 sporadic HSCR patients and in silico approaches have shown that the critical translation initiation signal in the mutant gene was abolished. In this study, we have been able to validate the reliability of this technique for CNVs screening in HSCR.


CONCLUSIONS
The implemented MLPA based technique presented here allows CNV analysis of genes involved in HSCR that have not been not previously evaluated. Our results indicate that CNVs could be implicated in the pathogenesis of HSCR, although they seem to be an uncommon molecular cause of HSCR.
Sánchez-Mejías
Avencia
A
Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Genética, Reproducción y Medicina Fetal, Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBIS), Hospitales Universitarios Virgen del Rocío/CSIC/Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
Núñez-Torres
Rocio
R
Fernández
Raquel M
RM
Antiñolo
Guillermo
G
Borrego
Salud
S
D056915:DNA Copy Number Variations; D015342:DNA Probes; D005260:Female; D006627:Hirschsprung Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques
D015342:DNA Probes
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