Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and imprinted genes on chromosome 11p15.5

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · American Journal of Human Genetics

OSTI ID:134358

Weksberg, R; Perlikowski, S; Squire, J ^[1]

---

1. Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto (Canada)

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is a syndrome characterized by generalized and regional overgrowth as well as a predisposition to specific embryonal tumors. We have previously reported biallelic expression of insulin like growth factor 2 (IGF2) in fibroblasts from sporadic cases of BWS. In these cells, the normal expression pattern for IGF2 is allele-specific and derived from the paternal allele. To determine whether biallelic expression of IGF2 in BWS patients results from aberrant regulation of a single gene or multiple genes in an imprinted domain, we undertook the study of a second gene in the 11p15.5 imprinted region. H19 is normally stringently regulated, expressed primarily from the maternal allele, and in many tissues reciprocal expression of H19 and IGF2 has been documented. Since no protein product for H19 has been identified, the RNA itself may be biologically active and it may have a tumor suppressor function. Moreover, H19 has been suggested as a candidate gene in BWS, especially in autosomal dominant pedigrees. Using an Rsa1 polymorphism in the transcribed region of H19, we found that the expression of H19 in 8 patients with sporadic BWS is consistently nonallelic and in the informative cases is always from the maternal allele. This is also true for the two cases of BWS where biallelic IGF2 expression has been documented. We conclude that IGF2 biallelic expression does not represent a general loss of imprint control. If H19 and IGF2 do normally respond to common signals within an imprinted domain at 11p15.5, we suggest that BWS patients with biallelic IGF2 expression can escape from such imprinting constraints. To study this region in more detail, we have developed a replication timing assay for IGF2 and H19 to determine whether loss of asynchronous replication accompanies biallelic IGF2 expression.

• OSTI ID: 134358
• Report Number(s): CONF-941009--
• Journal Information: American Journal of Human Genetics, Journal Name: American Journal of Human Genetics Journal Issue: Suppl.3 Vol. 55; ISSN AJHGAG; ISSN 0002-9297
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
DOMINANT MUTATIONS
GENE REGULATION
GENES
GENETIC MAPPING
GENETICS
GROWTH
GROWTH FACTORS
HEREDITARY DISEASES
HUMAN CHROMOSOMES
INSULIN
NEOPLASMS
PATIENTS
PROTEINS
RNA
TRANSCRIPTION