Previously Undescribed Family Mutation in the JAG1 Gene as a Cause for Alagille Syndrome

Protein Identification and Haplotype Description of Homozygote Mutation Causing Congenital Plasminogen Deficiency

Severe type I Plasminogen (PLG) deficiency was clinically diagnosed after hyaline-positive periodic acid Schiff material was detected in the histologic study of superior tarsal conjunctiva and vulvar pseudomembrane of the patient. Direct immunofluorescence also confirmed multiple deposits of fibrinogen in the dermis. Plasma plasminogen activity was calculated in a <5% value (reference values, 75% to 150%) and sequencing of the PLG gene evidenced the homozygous mutation in c.2377T/A (p.Tyr793Asn), confirming the molecular diagnosis of congenital deficiency of plasminogen type 1. Genotype-Phenotype correlation among family members evidenced the recessive hereditary pattern of clinical manifes…

Polymorphisms in TRAIL receptor genes and risk of breast cancer in Spanish women

TRAIL is a potent inducer of apoptosis in malignant but not in normal cells. TRAIL binds to the proapoptotic death receptor DR4 and DR5 as well as to the decoy receptors DcR1 and DcR2. To evaluate the involvement of TRAIL receptor genes in breast cancer, we carried out a case-control study of eight selected polymorphisms in a large sample of Spanish women. Three of the eight selected SNPs (626G/C and 1322G/A in DR4 and 2699A/G in DcR2) showed some evidence of different genotype distributions in a random selection of 535 cases and 480 controls and were therefore studied in our entire sample (1008 cases and 768 controls). For the two DR4 polymorphisms, no differences in genotype or haplotype …

Genetic screening for MC4R gene identifies three novel mutations associated with severe familiar obesity in a cohort of Spanish individuals

Abstract MC4R gene is a hypothalamic satiety control mediator in which mutations cause a monogenic form of obesity. The aim of this study was to perform a genetic screening to identify variations in the entire region of MC4R gene. A total of 236 unrelated and severely obese patients (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2) with Spanish ancestry and severe overweight familiar history have been enrolled into the study. Seven MC4R gene variants were identified in the heterozygous state in 21 patients. Coding variants p.Thr101Ile and p.Ala259Asp are new and variants p.Ser30Phe, p.Val103Ile and p.Ile251Leu were previously described. Two variants have been also observed in the promoter region of the MC4R gene; the c.-24…

Analysis ofBRCA1andBRCA2genes in Spanish breast/ovarian cancer patients: A high proportion of mutations unique to Spain and evidence of founder effects

We screened index cases from 410 Spanish breast/ovarian cancer families and 214 patients (19 of them males) with breast cancer for germ-line mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, using SSCP, PTT, CSGE, DGGE, and direct sequencing. We identified 60 mutations in BRCA1 and 53 in BRCA2. Of the 53 distinct mutations observed, 11 are novel and 12 have been reported only in Spanish families (41.5%). The prevalence of mutations in this set of families was 26.3%, but the percentage was higher in the families with breast and ovarian cancer (52.1%). The lowest proportion of mutations was found in the site-specific female breast cancer families (15.4%). Of the families with male breast cancer cases, …