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Frequency of somatic and germ-line mosaicism in retinoblastoma: implications for genetic counseling.

ABSTRACT: Although mosaicism can have important implications for genetic counseling of families with hereditary disorders, information regarding the incidence of mosaicism is available for only a few genetic diseases. Here we describe an evaluation of 156 families with retinoblastoma; the initial oncogenic mutation in the retinoblastoma gene had been identified in these families. In 15 ( approximately 10%) families, we were able to document mosaicism for the initial mutation in the retinoblastoma gene, either in the proband or in one of the proband's parents. The true incidence of mosaicism in this group of 156 families is probably higher than our findings indicate; in some additional families beyond the 15 we identified, mosaicism was likely but could not be proven, because somatic or germ-line DNA from key family members was unavailable. Germ-line DNA from two mosaic fathers was analyzed: in one of these, the mutation was detected in both sperm and leukocyte DNA; in the other, the mutation was detected only in sperm DNA. Our data suggest that mosaicism is more common than is generally appreciated, especially in disorders such as retinoblastoma, in which a high proportion of cases represent new mutations. The possibility of mosaicism should always be considered during the genetic counseling of newly identified families with retinoblastoma. As demonstrated here, genetic tests of germ-line DNA can provide valuable information that is not available through analysis of somatic (leukocyte) DNA.

SUBMITTER: Sippel KC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1376960 | biostudies-other | 1998 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Frequency of somatic and germ-line mosaicism in retinoblastoma: implications for genetic counseling.

Sippel K C KC Fraioli R E RE Smith G D GD Schalkoff M E ME Sutherland J J Gallie B L BL Dryja T P TP

American journal of human genetics 19980301 3

Although mosaicism can have important implications for genetic counseling of families with hereditary disorders, information regarding the incidence of mosaicism is available for only a few genetic diseases. Here we describe an evaluation of 156 families with retinoblastoma; the initial oncogenic mutation in the retinoblastoma gene had been identified in these families. In 15 ( approximately 10%) families, we were able to document mosaicism for the initial mutation in the retinoblastoma gene, ei ...[more]

PMID: 9497263

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Project description:Retinoblastoma (RB) is an inherited childhood ocular cancer caused by mutations in the tumor suppressor RB1 gene. Identification of RB1 mutations is essential to assess the risk of developing retinoblastoma in the patients´ relatives. Retinoblastoma is a potentially curable cancer and an early diagnosis is critical for survival and eye preservation. Unilateral retinoblastoma is mostly non-heritable and results from two somatic mutations whereas bilateral retinoblastoma is heritable and results from one germline and one somatic mutation, both have high penetrance, 90%. The purpose of this study was to identify causative RB1 mutations in RB patients with different clinical presentations. A comprehensive approach was used to study a cohort of 34 patients with unilateral, bilateral and trilateral retinoblastoma. Blood and tumor DNA was analyzed by sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) assay. Validation of an insertion mutation was performed by cloning the PCR product. Most of the patients in our cohort had unilateral RB, eight patients had bilateral RB and one patient had a trilateral tumor with ocular and suprasellar/sellar locations. Other tumors in addition to retinoblastoma were also found in the affected families. One patient had two syndromes, retinoblastoma and schwannomatosis, and another RB patient had a father with a retinoma. Five out of the 25 unilateral RB patients carried germinal mutations (20%), which were mostly missense mutations. The bilateral and trilateral patients carried splice-site, nonsense and frameshift mutations as well as a whole RB1 gene deletion. Missense mutations were associated with mild phenotype: unilateral retinoblastoma, retinoma or no tumor. In this study we identified causative RB1 mutations in most bilateral RB patients and in some unilateral RB patients, including five novel mutations. These data are crucial for genetic counseling and confirm the need to perform complete genetic screening for RB1 mutations in both constitutional and tumor tissues.

Dataset Information

Frequency of somatic and germ-line mosaicism in retinoblastoma: implications for genetic counseling.

Publications

Frequency of somatic and germ-line mosaicism in retinoblastoma: implications for genetic counseling.

Similar Datasets

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