skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A novel microsatellite DNA marker at locus D7S1870 detects hemizygosity in 75% of patients with Williams syndrome

Journal Article · · American Journal of Human Genetics
OSTI ID:70410
 [1];  [1]; ; ; ; ;  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Hopital des Enfants-Malades, Paris (France)
  2. Hopital de La Timone, Marseille (France); and others

Williams syndrome (WS) is a predominantly sporadic developmental disorder characterized by dysmorphic facial features, infantile hypercalcemia, premature aging of skin, mental retardation and gregarious personality. Supravalvular aortic stenosis (SVAS) and other vascular diseases caused by the narrowing of large elastic arteries are present in almost 80% of cases. Recently, hemizygosity at the elastin locus has been shown in sporadic WS, suggesting that this disease is caused by deletions encompassing the elastin gene on chromosome 7q11.23. Taking advantage of a large series of sporadic WS (27 cases), we have explored the potential application of novel microsatellite DNA markers in the rapid detection of hemizygosity in WS. We report here a highly informative marker at locus D7S1870, which detected failure of parental inheritance in almost 75% of cases of WS in our series. This marker can be regarded therefore as a reliable and useful diagnostic tool in suspected cases of WS as well as in complicated forms of supravalvular aortic stenosis. 10 refs., 2 figs.

OSTI ID:
70410
Journal Information:
American Journal of Human Genetics, Vol. 56, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1995
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English