STR Flashcards
Question
Answer
What is the clinical significance of 36-39 CAG repeats in Huntington Disease?
Reduced penetrance - may or may not be affected
Above what number of CAG repeats would you see fully penetrant development of Huntington Disease?
40 CAG repeats
What is the significance of 27-35 CAG repeats in Huntington Disease?
Intermediate allele - will not cause disease but may expand to cause disease if paternally transmitted
Gene and location associated with Frax
FMR1 within FRAX A fragile site at Xq27.3
Cause of Fragile X syndrome
99% is CGG repeat expansion in 5’ UTR of FMR1 gene| 1% is FMR1 point mutations/deletions
Underlying pathogenesis of Fragile X syndrome
> 200 CGG repeats causes hypermethylation of FMR1 promotor, turning gene off. FMRP expressed at highest levels in brain and testes > most functional in neurons where is it has role in functional and structural maturation of synapses
Interspersions in CGG tract
AGG interuptions thought to confer stability| Often found in normal size alleles
What proportion of Fragile X is mosaic?
15-20% of mutations are mosaic
What types of mosaicism are there in Fragile X?
repeat size (full mut/pre mut)methylation (full mut meth / full mut unmeth)
Symptoms of FXTAS
Late onset progressive neuromuscular disorder- cerebellar ataxia- intention tremor- parkinsonism
Cause of FXTAS
CGG premutation (55-200) in FMR1 in both males and females
Underlying pathogenesis of FXTAS
Transcription of premutation alleles is higher than normal resulting in increase mRNA, but translation is less efficientLess FMRP, more FMR1 mRNA; toxic - leads to cellulat injury
Clinical features of FXPOI
Early menopause (<40 years)
Cause of FXPOI
CGG premutation (55-200) in FMR1 in females only
Clinical features of HD
Progressive neurodegenerative disorder1. Movement - chorea, dystonia2. Psychiatric - depression, mood swings3. Dementia
Average age of onset for HD
35-50 years. Juvenile HD <20 years
Cause of HD
> 39 CAG expansion in exon 1 of HTT gene at 4p16.3
Intermediate alleles in HD
27-35 CAG| Have potential to expand into disease range in single generation
What effects risk of expansion for intermediate alleles?
- Length of CAG tract - the longer the greater the risk2. Age and sex of transmitting parents - greater risk for males >36 years3. Family history4. Sequence surrounding CAG repeat, polymorphisms etc
Molecular pathogenesis of HD
HTT translated into protein with extended polyglutamine tract; aggregates in neuronal nuclei to form neuronal intranuclear inclusions - interefere with transcription factorsAggregate HTT protein contains toxic N-terminal fragments
Genetic testing for HD
PCR to size CAG repeat - primers flanking tract| products separated by capillary electrophoresis
Presence of one peak in HD testing - what could this mean?
1) patient is hom for same sized CAG expansion2) SNP under primer binding site caused dropout of one allele3) patient has one normal allele and one allele not identifiable by the test (ie too large - juvenile)
Presence of one peak in HD testing - reflex test?
Use second set of primers that flank CAG repeat AND adjacent (CCG)n repeat tract; highly polymorphic- allows you to ensure that two peaks are present (not for sizing)If juvenile HD, could do TP-PCR for large expansions
Exclusion testing in HD - when is it used?
When fetus has 25% chance of being affected (ie affected grandparent) but parent doesnt wish to know their HD status
Limitations of HD exclusion testing
1) Will only determine which grandparental haplotype has been inherited; not whether it was the disease causing allele or not so max information on risk is 0% or 50%. BUT it avoids a prenatal test for those at 0%2) risk of recombination across HTT is 2%3) testing may not be informative4) relies on grandparental sample availability
Expansion in FMR1
Expansion can only occur when maternally transmitted| >90 CGG have 90% risk of expansion upon transmission
Considerations in prenatal FraX testing (CVB)
MCC| Methylation pattern not fixed
Testing strategy in FraX
1) Flourescent PCR (sizing) - run with known controls, can only identify normal alleles2) TP-PCR
Limitations of flourescent PCR in FraX
- preferential amplification of the smaller allele2. SNP under primer binding site could cause allele drop out3. Cannot detect full mutations, including mosaic N/FM4. Cannot detect deletion/point mutation (1%)5. Cannot distinguish N/N hom female
Alternative techniques in FraX
Southern blotting, methylation specific PCR
Methylation specific PCR - principles
Split DNA into 2 reactions; 1 normal PCR and 1 PCR following digestion with methylation specific restriction enzyme which cleaves unmethylated sequences within ROIProducts of each reaction labelled with different flourophore, peak areas compared to determine % methylation
How is Fragile X caused?
Expansion of unstable 5’ UTR CGG repeat to >200 repeats, causing gene silencing
Give 3 clinical features of Fragile X in males
moderate/severe intellectual and social impairment, characteristic facial features, joint laxity, macro-orchidism
Give the clinical presentation of Fragile X in females
Variable phenotype - apparently normal approx 50%) through to mild/moderate mental and social impairment
What is the significance of repeat size of 55-200 in FMR1?
Premutation - may expand in maternal line to cause FraX in future generations. Patients may develop FXTAS or POI
What is the proposed disease mechanism for FXTAS/POI
NOT the same as FraX - ?toxic gain of function?
What is the location of FMR1?
Xq27.3
What is the role of FMRP protein?
RNA binding protein, present in many tissues including brain, ovaries and testes - thought to act as a shuttle within cells by transporting mRNA from nucleus to areas of cell where proteins assembled. Also helps to control when the instructions in these mRNA molecules are used to build proteins.
Name 2 NGS platforms
Agilent Sure Select, ThermoFisher Ion Torrent, Illumina HiSeq/MiSeq SBS seq by synthesis
What are the mutation ranges for SBMA?Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy
Normal - 34 CAG repeats or lessQuestionable - 35 CAG repeatsReduced penetrance - 36-37 CAG repeatsAffected fully penetrant - 38 CAG repeats or greaterSequence any 35-37 repeats
Name 3 CAG expansion disorders
- Huntingtons2. Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy (SBMA)3. SCAs - 7 of them
Name 2 CGG expansion disorders
Fragile XFXTAS
Name 3 CTG expansion disorders
Myotonic Dystrophy 1Huntington Like Disease 2SCA 8
Name a GAA expansion disorder
Friedreich Ataxia
Name a CCTG expansion disorder
Myotonic Dystrophy 2
What additional features might you see in a juvenile HD patient with a large expansion?
Bradykinesia -slowness of movementDystonia
What factors can contribute to pathogenic mechanism of repeat expansion diseases
- Sequence of repeat2. Size of repeat3. Location of repeat within gene4. Whether repeat encodes RNA or protein5. Function of repeat-containing gene6. Extent of meiosis and somatic instability
What causes Myotonic Dystrophy 1?
CCTG repeat in intron 1 of the CNBP gene
What are some clinical features of DM1?
Progressive weakness and myotoniaCataractsCardiac arrhythmiasEndocrinopathyCognitive impairment
What is the prevalence and penetrance of DMD and BMD?
Most common muscular dystrophy - 1 in 3500 malespenetrance is 100% in males and variable in femalesprevalence of BMD is 1 in 8000 and females rarely display phenotype
DMD ans X-linked cardiomyopathy?
Mutations in the dystrophin gene can also result in X-linked cardiomyopathy. This presents as cardiac disease with no skeletal muscle involvement.due to a mutation in promote and 1st exon resulting in no dystrophin present in cardiac muscle. - skeletal muscle spared as it can use other promoters - onset is 20-25yrs in males was fast progress and death in a few years- in melanges onset is 40-50 yrs and is slower
Describe the phenotype of DMD?
- onset < 5yrs and delayed motor development- wheelchair bound by 12 years- progressive muscle weakness and muscle replaced by fat and fibrotic tissue- gower sign- legs and pelvis affected first- scoliosis may develop- 95% of males develop cardiomyopathy- dev delay present in 30-50% and coincides with later onset of symptoms (may be referred for array for LD and DMD discovered then)- mean age at death is 25yrs due to respiratory and cardiac insufficiency- creatine kinase levels are 10-100x normal
what is the phenotype of BMD?
milder than DMD- 20% have dilated cardiomyopathy- may be lat learning to walk- muslce weakness onset from ~ 11yrs - lose ability to walk at 49-50 yrs- no LD- survive to middle- creatine kinase 5x normal
describe the DMD gene
largest human gene with 79 exons- 2.4MB in size but only 3% is coding7 tissue specific promoters including brain, cardiac an skeletal muscle
Describe the dystrophin protein.
dystrophin is a rod shaped cytoskeletal protein which provide structural support dystroglycan complex (DGC)the DGC forms a critical link between the cytoskeleton and the ECM and stabilizes the sarcolemma during contraction and relaxation. loss of dsytrophin disrupts the link between the ECM and cytoskeleton which increase the fragility of the cell membrane and muscle becomes mechanically damaged during contraction. This also increases the permeability to Ca2+ which activate proteases which digest contractile proteinsincreased creatine kinase levels indicate muscle damage
How much dystophin is expressed in DMD and BMD?
In DMD dystrophin is virtually absentIn BMD there is between 20% to normal levels (although abnormal protein is expressed)
What is the mutation spectrum in DMD?
No correlation between del/dup sizer and the severity of the phenotype. Majority of pathogenic variants are exon deletion (>1 exon) clustering in exons 2-20 (20%) and 45-55 (80%). duplications are clustered in these regions with opposite frequenciesnonsense mutations are next most common mut in DMD followed by dups and indels. single exons deletions- do not routinely test asymptomatic patients therefore do not know the frequency of these in the normal population. If detected in a patient with phenotype it is considered to confirm the diagnosis but could be masking the true diagnosis
what is the reading frame rule in DMD?
mutations that disrupt the reading frame result in a no functionla dystrophin due to NMD and asre associated with DMDin-frame dels and dups result in the expression of a partially functional protein and are associated with BMDthe reading frame hypothesis holds true in 90% of cases therefore a diagnosis should be made on clinical assessment not the reported prediction.
What are the limitations to the reading frame hypothesis?
NAME?
What are the genotype-phenotype correlations in DMD?
NAME?
What is the inheritance of DMD?
XLR2/3 of cases are inherited from a carrier mother and 1/3 are do novo- new mutation can occur in the oocyte, embryo post conception (mosaic) or be in the mothers germline (7-10% recurrence risk)when the at risk haplotype is known the recurrence risk is 8.6%. However testing my MLPA does not revel this (need linkage) therefore the recurrence risk for a mother of an affected who has not been found to be a carrier is 4.3%sibling of an affected is also at risk of being a carrier even if mother is not. If the sibling then tests negative for the family mutation there is no recurrence risk and her risk of an affected is reduced to that of the general population. DMD has a high recombination rate- 4x greater than would be predicted by its size alone
Manifesting females in DMD
2-8% range from mild muscle weakness to an inability to walk. If cardiomopathy is included the incidence is 38%- therefore monitoring for cardiac involvement should be included in female carrier reports
How can DMD be diagnosed? CK/IHC
NAME?