title: Examinations of maternal uniparental disomy and epimutations for chromosomes 6, 14, 16 and 20 in Silver-Russell syndrome-like phenotypes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS) is a growth retardation disorder with a very broad molecular and clinical spectrum. Whereas the association of SRS with imprinting disturbances of chromosomes 11p15.5 and 7 is generally accepted, there are controversial discussions on the involvement of other molecular changes. The recent reports on the occurrence of maternal uniparental disomies of chromosomes 6, 16 and 20 (upd(6, 16, 20)mat), as well as 14q32 imprint alterations in patients with SRS phenotypes raise the question on the involvement of these mutations in the etiology of SRS.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cohort of 54 growth retarded patients with SRS features was screened for aberrant methylation patterns of chromsomes 6, 14, 16 and 20.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One carrier of a 14q32 epimutation was identified whereas epimutations and maternal UPD for chromosomes 6, 16 and 20 were excluded.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data and those from the literature confirm that 14q32 disturbances significantly contribute to the mutation spectrum in this cohort. Furthermore, maternal uniparental disomy of chromosomes 6, 16 and 20 can be observed, but are rare. In case they occur they can be regarded as causative for clinical features.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sachwitz
authors.affiliation: Praxis für Humangenetik, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Getrud
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Strobl-Wildemann
authors.affiliation: II. Department of Pediatrics, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: György
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fekete
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Laima
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ambrozaitytė
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Vaidutis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kučinskas
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Soellner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Begemann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, Aachen, Germany. teggermann@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Eggermann
mesh_terms: D002883:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 14 / Q000235:genetics; D002885:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 16 / Q000235:genetics; D002890:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 20 / Q000235:genetics; D002896:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6 / Q000235:genetics; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D056426:Genetic Loci; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D056730:Silver-Russell Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D024182:Uniparental Disomy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: Genomic imprinting; Silver-Russell syndrome; Temple syndrome; Uniparental disomy; upd(16)mat; upd(20)mat; upd(6)mat