一个X连锁少汗型外胚层发育不良家系的EDA基因c.822G＞T突变分析

目的 对1个少汗型外胚层发育不良家系进行ectodysplasin A(EDA)基因序列分析,为家系成员提供准确病因诊断和遗传咨询.方法 抽取家系中先证者及有血缘关系的家系成员外周静脉血,常规提取基因组DNA,应用聚合酶链式反应、DNA测序技术分析EDA基因编码区序列;选择103名无血缘关系正常人作为对照.结果 在先证者及另1例男性患者的EDA基因第7外显子区域检出c.822G＞T突变,导致第274位的色氨酸变成了半胱氨酸(p.W274C),该突变位点未见文献报道.家系中的5名女性成员中检出c.822G＞T杂合突变,正常男性成员及103名正常对照均不存在此突变.结论 EDA基因c.822 G＞T突变为导致该家系成员少汗型外胚层发育不良的致病突变.     

两个X连锁少汗性外胚层发育不良家系的基因突变分析

目的 对两个X连锁隐性遗传少汗性外胚层发育不良(X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia,XLHED)家系进行ED1基因突变分析,为罹患家庭提供遗传咨询及产前诊断.方法 综合应用序列分析及多重连接依赖性探针扩增方法,对两个家系的先证者进行ED1基因突变分析,并针对检测到的突变位点对女性成员进行检测.采集家系1胎儿的羊水细胞进行产前诊断,包括致病突变位点的分析、ED1基因内4个短串联重复序列(short tandem repeat,STR)位点的单倍型连锁分析、性别鉴定及核型分析.结果 家系1先证者缺失ED1基因第1外显子及下游2个STR位点DXS8269,DXS1422区域,其余外显子序列分析未见异常,其女儿为该缺失突变的携带者;结合连锁分析、性别鉴定及核型分析结果,家系1胎儿为男性非ED1基因缺失突变携带者,胎儿足月分娩后随访,为健康个体.家系2先证者经序列分析检测到ED1基因第3外显子c.463C＞T(R155C)错义突变,母亲为c.463C＞T(R155C)杂合突变携带者.结论 ED1基因第1外显子区域缺失和错义突变R155C是导致2个少汗性外胚层发育不全家系患者临床表型的主要原因,ED1基因的突变检测结合单倍型分析,能准确地对该类家系提供产前诊断.     

ED1基因新突变导致无汗型外胚层发育不良

目的鉴定一个无汗型外胚层发育不良(HED)家系ED1基因的突变及探讨基因型与表型之间的关系,为该病的诊断,产前诊断及遗传咨询提供实验依据。方法对一个HED家系进行调查,临床资料收集及采集外周血,抽取基因组DNA;设计ED1基因外显子引物,行先证者DNA PCR扩增及序列测定,发现候选变异后对先证者的父母及120名匹配正常人进行突变位点序列分析;推导的该基因氨基酸序列(突变位点)用Clustal W软件进行多物种对比。结果先证者发现ED1基因c.158T>G(p.Leu53Arg)纯合突变,母亲为c.158T>G(p.Leu53Arg)杂合突变;先证者父亲及120例正常对照的序列分析结果未检测出相应位置突变。讨论 ED1基因突变检测是直接诊断HED有效手段之一,发现的c.158T>G(p.Leu53Arg)为新致病突变。     

有汗型外胚层发育不良家系基因突变分析及孕早期产前诊断

目的 对1个中国汉族有汗型外胚层发育不良家系进行了基因突变分析,并在此基础上对该家系中已孕11周的胎儿进行了产前诊断,为遗传咨询提供依据.方法 应用PCR扩增和直接双向测序对1个有汗型外胚层发育不良家系2例患者及6名正常成员的GJB6基因(Cx30基因)的全编码区序列进行突变分析.在确定突变后,取胎盘绒毛活检样本进一步行产前诊断.结果 在该家系的2例患者中检测出GJB6基因c.31G＞A的点突变,该突变导致了GJB6蛋白N-末端区域第11位甘氨酸被精氨酸替代(p.G11R),6名正常家系成员均未检测到该突变.产前诊断结果显示胎儿也携带有GJB6基因c.31G＞A突变.在终止妊娠后,流产物突变分析的结果与产前诊断结果一致.结论 GJB6基因c.31G＞A(p.G11R)错义突变是该有汗型外胚层发育不良家系的致病原因,通过基因诊断和产前诊断可以有效阻止致病基因的传递.     

鸟氨酸氨甲酰基转移酶缺乏症OTC基因错义突变的分子鉴定

目的 对一个鸟氨酸氨甲酰基转移酶缺乏症(ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency,OTCD)家系进行分子遗传学检测,从基因水平确定其原因,为遗传咨询和产前诊断提供依据.方法 应用聚合酶链扩增技术和Sanger测序法对该家系成员的鸟氨酸氨甲酰转移酶基因(ornithine carbamoyltransferase,OTC)的10个外显子进行直接测序,检测潜在的致病突变,以100名健康人为正常对照.结果 先证者新生儿期发病,OTC基因测序发现其第9外显子发生错义突变c.917G＞C,第306位密码子由AGA突变为ACA,精氨酸替换为苏氨酸,即p.R306T.家系成员检测证实先证者母亲及家系中另外两名女性为表型正常的c.917G＞C杂合突变携带者,其他家系成员及100名对照者未发现上述突变.结论 结合生物信息学分析,错义突变c.917G＞C为该家系的致病原因.该突变尚未见报道,是一新发现的OTC基因突变位点.     

三个Fabry病家系GLA基因突变与临床表型

目的 分析3个Fabry病家系GLA基因突变及其与临床表型的关系.方法 应用PCR结合DNA测序技术,检测先证者及相关成员GLA基因编码序列与剪切位点DNA序列变异,分析致病性突变与临床表型关系.结果 在家系1先证者GLA基因第5外显子中发现1个未经报道的错义突变c.797A＞C(D266A),家系2先证者GLA基因第5外显子中发现1个错义突变c.644A＞G(N215S),家系3先证者GLA基因第2外显子中发现1个无义突变c.355C＞T(Ql19X).家系1与家系3先证者主要表现为皮肤损害和慢性肾功能不全,家系2先证者临床则以肥厚性心肌病为特点.结论 首次发现的GLA基因c.797A＞C(D266A)突变是第266位密码子第6个被证实的错义突变,已报道的另5种突变均有致病性,在正常非相关对照中未发现该突变,提示GLA基因c.797A＞C突变很可能是该家系的致病原因.N215S和Q119X系首次发现于中国Fabry病家系的突变.GLA基因不同位点的突变具有较为显著的表型差异.     

遗传性出血性毛细血管扩张症基因突变分析

目的 分析遗传性出血性毛细血管扩张症(hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia,HHT)家系ENG、ACVEL1和SMAD4基因突变.方法 收集4个HHT家系临床资料并分析其临床特点,应用直接测序和多重连接探针扩增技术对11例临床确诊及可疑患者的ENG、ACVRL1和SMAD4基因进行突变分析,将结果与HHT基因突变数据库进行对比.结果 家系2先证者及2个妹妹的ENG基因发生了第2外显子c.207G＞A(p.L69L)同义突变、第8外显子c.1004A＞T(p.Q335L)错义突变、ACVRL1基因第7外显子c.817C＞T(L273L)同义突变;家系3先证者及其母亲和弟的ENG基因发生了第8外显子c.1004A＞T(p.Q335L)突变;也检测到家系4先证者及其兄的ENG基因第8外显子c.1004A＞T(p.Q335L)突变.家系1先证者及其他HHT患者,未检测到基因突变.其中ENG基因第8外显子c.1004A＞ T(p.335Q＞L)为新突变,在200名正常对照中也未检测到该突变.结论 HHT具有遗传异质性,ENG基因第8外显子c.1004A＞T(p.Q335L)为HHT新的致病突变.     

六个少汗性外胚层发育不全家系ED1基因的突变分析

目的 对6个少汗性外胚层发育不全(hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia,HED)家系进行ED1基因突变分析,为其提供遗传咨询和产前诊断.方法 采用聚合酶链反应和DNA直接测序对6个家系的先证者及其成员ED1基因的8个外显子进行序列分析.结果 6个家系患者中均检出了ED1基因突变,分别为R153C、A349T、G299S、A349T、X392Q和第9外显子缺失突变,其中R153C、X392Q和第9外显子缺失突变在中国人群中首次报告.上述位点的杂合突变在部分女性亲属中检出.结论 错义突变R153C、A349T、G299S和X392Q和第9外显子缺失是导致6个少汗性外胚层发育不全家系患者临床表型的主要原因,通过对家系个体ED1基因分析可进行携带者筛查和产前诊断.     

先天性大疱性鱼鳞病样红皮病基因突变检测

目的 研究1例先天性大疱性鱼鳞病样红皮病散发患者的基因突变情况,探讨基因型与表现型的相关性.方法 应用聚合酶链反应扩增KRT1和KRT10基因的热点突变区,通过DNA直接测序的方法,对先天性大疱性鱼鳞病样红皮病患者、家系中的正常成员和50名无亲缘关系的正常个体的KRT1和KRT10基因进行突变检测.结果 在患者KRT10基因的第1外显子上发现了1个错义突变(467G→A),导致角蛋白10(KRT10)1A区的精氨酸由组氨酸替代(R156H),而家系正常成员和无亲缘关系的50名正常对照中均未发现该突变.结论 KRT10基因第1外显子突变(467G→A)在该例先天性大疱性鱼鳞病样红皮病患病的分子机制中发挥重要作用.     

一个中国G6PD缺乏症家系致病基因的突变分析

目的对一个葡萄糖-6-磷酸脱氢酶(G6PD)缺乏症家系成员G6PD基因13个外显子全面测序,识别致病的突变位点及其遗传模式。方法在G6PD缺乏症高发区广东惠州地区收集到一个G6PD缺乏症核心家系,包括先证者(儿子)、患病母亲和正常父亲。取家系成员的外周血样,并提取基因组DNA,用PCR和DNA测序法对G6PD基因全部外显子进行序列分析。结果先证者及其母亲在G6PD基因第2号外显子出现同一点突变(c.95AG,p.His32Arg),该突变引起组氨酸被精氨酸替换(CACCGC)。然而先证者父亲在G6PD基因的13个外显子均未出现突变。3种生物信息学软件均预测该突变对蛋白质功能具有较强的危害性。结论该家系中c.95AG呈X连锁显性遗传,是G6PD缺乏症的致病突变位点之一。     

Renal dysplasia and asplenia in two sibs

A family is reported in which two sibs, one male and the other female, both died within 24 hours of birth with enlarged polycystic kidneys. Postmortem histology in the second child showed gross renal dysplasia. In both children the pancreas was enlarged, nodular and cystic but the liver appeared macroscopically normal. In the second child, histological examination confirmed pancreatic fibrosis with cystic dilation of ducts, but showed portal fibrosis with bile duct proliferation in the liver.
This combination of findings is very reminiscent of those in a girl and her brother reported by Ivemark et al. (1959). The children reported here also showed absence or hypoplasia of the spleen, cardiac anomalies and other features of the Ivemark syndrome (Ivemark 1955), a quite different, usually sporadic, congenital disorder. It is suggested that the children described here have a distinct lethal congenital disorder, probably inherited in an autosomal recessive manner.     

Schizophrenia in a North Swedish geographical isolate, 1900–1977. Epidemiology, genetics and biochemistry

Over 200 schizophrenic patients belonging to three major and interrelated pedigree complexes have been investigated over the past 30 years in a North Swedish geographically isolated population, presently numbering about 6,000. An intensive investigation of a number of biochemical correlates and genetic markers in a few selected families belonging to one of the major pedigrees has indicated new strategies for the current research program.
Schizophrenia, as defined operationally, is significantly associated with decreased activities of two enzymes (1) blood platelet monoamine oxidase, (2) plasma dopamine-β-hydroxylase, and (3) with the genetic marker Gc² (group specific antigen). Both enzymes are subject to genetic variation. A positive score for linkage between schizophrenia and low plasma DBH activity has been calculated, but, so far, available data are insufficient for discrimination between linkage and partial contribution of genetically controlled low plasma DBH to the pathogenesis of the disease. Alternatively, both mechanisms could be involved.
As a model for continued research, schizophrenia is explained as based on a double dominant-recessive genotype (Aabb), representing a vulnerability which in about 50 % of cases develops into clinical schizophrenia. It is suggested that the dominant mutation (A) operates on or affects MAO activity, and that the recessive genotype (bb) is instrumental in low variates of DBH activity and very likely such variates within the normal range of physiological variation. Moreover, it is suggested that the combined effects of MAO- and DBH-reduced efficiency on the metabolism of e.g. dopamine could be an essential pathogenic mechanism for the schizophrenic illness which is segregating in this population.     

The dominant diseases of modernized societies as omega-3 essential fatty acid deficiency syndrome: Substrate beriberi

About 1900, modern food selection and processing caused widespread $\text{epidemics}$ of the B vitamin deficiency diseases of beriberi and pellagra which, for genetic reasons, often expressed as different diseases ranging from bowel and heart disease to dermatoses and psychoses. But the B vitamins merely help convert essential fatty acids (EFA) into the prostaglandin (PG) tissue regulators and it now turns out that, through hydrogenation, milling and selection of w3-poor southern foods, we have also been systematically depleting, by as much as 90%, a newly discovered trace Nordic EFA (w3) of special importance to primates and sole precursor of the PG3(4) series, even as a concurrent fiber deficiency increases body demand for EFA. Since substrate EFA is processed by many B vitamin catalysts, an EFA deficiency will mimic a $\text{panh}$ypovitaminosis B, i.e., a mixture of $\text{substrate}$ beriberi and $\text{substrate}$ pellagra resembling vitamin beriberi and pellagra but exhibiting as even more diverse $\text{endemic}$ disease. This would consitute a second stage of the Modern Malnutrition and explain why some workers now hold the dominant diseases of modermized societies to be new, nutritionally based, pellagraform yet lipid-related and to range, once again, from heart disease to psychosis. It is an assumption that our dominant diseases are unrelated to each other or are merely revealed by our diagnostic acumen and therapeutic success; and that hydrogenating millions of tons of food oils annually, to destroy the rancidity producing w3-EFA, is safe for $\text{primates}$. Extensive beriberiform disease is reported here in 32 typical cases taken from medical practice which responds strikingly to linseed oil supplements (60% w3-EFA) in confirmation of identical results in Capuchins.     

What will studies of Fulani individuals naturally exposed to malaria teach us about protective immunity to malaria?

There are an estimated over 200 million yearly cases of malaria worldwide. Despite concerted international effort to combat the disease, it still causes approximately half a million deaths every year, the majority of which are young children with Plasmodium falciparum infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Successes are largely attributed to malaria prevention strategies, such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets and indoor spraying, as well as improved access to existing treatments. One important hurdle to new approaches for the treatment and prevention of malaria is our limited understanding of the biology of Plasmodium infection and its complex interaction with the immune system of its human host. Therefore, the elimination of malaria in Africa not only relies on existing tools to reduce malaria burden, but also requires fundamental research to develop innovative approaches. Here, we summarize our discoveries from investigations of ethnic groups of West Africa who have different susceptibility to malaria.     

'Very sore nights and days': the child's experience of illness in early modern England, c.1580-1720

Sick children were ubiquitous in early modern England, and yet they have received very little attention from historians. Taking the elusive perspective of the child, this article explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual experience of illness in England between approximately 1580 and 1720. What was it like being ill and suffering pain? How did the young respond emotionally to the anticipation of death? It is argued that children’s experiences were characterised by profound ambivalence: illness could be terrifying and distressing, but also a source of emotional and spiritual fulfilment and joy. This interpretation challenges the common assumption amongst medical historians that the experiences of early modern patients were utterly miserable. It also sheds light on children’s emotional feelings for their parents, a subject often overlooked in the historiography of childhood. The primary sources used in this article include diaries, autobiographies, letters, the biographies of pious children, printed possession cases, doctors’ casebooks, and theological treatises concerning the afterlife.     

Guidelines for the Validation and Use of Immunoassays for Determination of Introduced Proteins in Biotechnology Enhanced Crops and Derived Food Ingredients

Recent advancements in agricultural biotechnology have created a need for analytical techniques to determine introduced proteins in crops enhanced through modern biotechnology techniques. These proteins are expressed in plant tissues and may be present in food ingredients. Immunoassays are ideally suited for protein detection and may be used as both quantitative and threshold methods. Microplate ELISA and lateral flow devices are two of the most commonly used immunoassay formats for agricultural biotechnology applications. This paper provides general background information and a discussion of criteria for the validation and application of immunochemical methods to the analysis of proteins introduced into plants and food ingredients using biotechnology methods. It is the result of a collaborative effort of members of the Analytical Environmental Immunochemical Consortium. This collaborative effort represents the combined expertise of several organizations to reach consensus on establishing guidelines for the validation and use of immunoassays. Further, the paper offers developers and users a consistent approach to adopting the technology as well as aid in producing accurate and meaningful results.     

Ultracryotomy: development and application (with examples from the yeast cytology) (author's transl)

The preparation steps usually necessary for obtaining ultrathin frozen sections of biological material (chemical prefixation, enclosing, cryoprotective treatment, freezing, sectioning, and post-staining the sections for transmission electron microscopy) are submitted to a critical analysis. The application of cryo-ultramicrotomy, in particularly for cytochemical purposes, is reviewed. Fundamental considerations of chemical prefixation and poststaining are supported by examples from yeast cytology. Furthermore, the efficiency of the cryo-ultramicrotomy (electron optical resolution of ultrastructural details) is demonstrated on yeast cells and protoplasts.     

HLA in North Colombia Chimila Amerindians

HLA-A,-B,-C,-DRB1 and -DQB1 alleles have been studied in Chimila Amerindians from Sabana de San Angel (North Colombian Coast) by using high resolution molecular typing. A frequent extended haplotype was found:HLA-A*24:02-B*51:10-C*15:02-BRB1*04:07-DQB1*03:02 (28.7%) which has also been described in Amerinndian Mayos Mexican population (Mexico, California Gulf, Pacific Ocean). Other haplotypes had already been found in Amerindians from Mexico (Pacific and Atlantic Coast), Peru (highlands and Amazon Basin), Bolivia and North USA. A geographic pattern according to HLA allele or haplotype frequencies is lacking in Amerindians, as already known. Also, five new extended haplotypes were found in Chimila Amerindians. Their HLA-A*24:02 high frequencies characteristic is shared with aboriginal populations of Taiwan; also, HLA-C*01:02 high frequencies are found in New Zealand Maoris, New Caledonians and Kimberly Aborigines from Australia. Finally, this study may show a model of evolutionary factors acting and rising one HLA allele frequency (-A*24:02), but not in others that belong to the same or different HLA loci.     

The case for allele‐specific recognition by the TCR

There is a sharp difference in how one views TCR structure–function–behaviour dependent on whether its recognition of major histocompatibility complex‐encoded restriction elements (R) is germline selected or somatically generated. The generally accepted or Standard model is built on the assumption that recognition of R is by the V regions of the αβ TCR, which is not driven by allele specificity, whereas the competing model posits that recognition of R is allele‐specific. The establishing of allele‐specific recognition of R by the TCR would rule out the Standard model and clear the road to a consideration of a competing construct, the Tritope model. Here, the case for allele‐specific recognition (germline selected) is detailed making it obvious that the Standard model is untenable.