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Unbalanced X;9 translocation in an infertile male with de novo duplication Xp22.31p22.33

  • Genetics
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Male carriers of an X-autosome translocation are generally infertile, regardless of the position of the breakpoint on the X chromosome while the pathogenicity of Xp22.3 subtelomeric duplications is under debate. To shed light into this controversy, we present a rare case, of an azoospermic male with no other significant clinical findings, in whom classical cytogenetics revealed additional unbalanced chromosomal material, at the telomere of the long arm of one homolog of chromosome 9.

Methods

In peripheral blood specimens of the index case and his parents, we performed GBanding, Inverted-DAPI Banding, AgNOR staining, Telomere specific Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH), Molecular karyotyping by Multi-color FISH, whole genome SNP microarrays, sub-telomeric MLPA, and transcription analysis of the expression of KAL1 gene by RT-PCR.

Results

Multi-color FISH revealed an unbalanced translocation involving the short arm of chromosome X. SNP microarray analysis combined to classical cytogenetics and MLPA demonstrated a de novo 8.796 Mb duplication of Xp22.31-p22.33. Compared to three control specimens, the patient presented significantly elevated expression levels of KAL1 mRNA in peripheral blood, suggesting transcriptional functionality of the duplicated segment.

Conclusions

The duplicated segment contains the pseudo-autosomal region PAR1 and more than 30 genes including SHOX, ARSE, STS, KAL1, and FAM9A and is not listed as polymorphic. Our data advocate that duplications of the Xp22.3 region may not be associated with a clinical consequence.

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Author notes

  1. Roumelioti Fani-Marlen, Eirini Louizou, Voula Velissariou and Sarantis Gagos contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Genetics, Center of Experimental Medicine and Translational Research, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, (BRFAA), Athens, Greece

    Fani-Marlen Roumelioti & Sarantis Gagos

  2. Department of Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics, Bioiatriki, Group of Health Sciences, Athens, Greece

    Eirini Louizou, Rozalia Neroutsou & Voula Velissariou

  3. Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, First Department of Internal Medicine, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Spyridon Karras

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  1. Fani-Marlen Roumelioti
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  2. Eirini Louizou
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Roumelioti, FM., Louizou, E., Karras, S. et al. Unbalanced X;9 translocation in an infertile male with de novo duplication Xp22.31p22.33. J Assist Reprod Genet 36, 769–775 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-019-01405-0

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