SHOX duplications found in some cases with type I Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome

Purpose: The Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome is defined as congenital aplasia of mullerian ducts derived structures in females with a normal female chromosomal and gonadal sex. Most cases with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome are sporadic, although familial cases have been reported. The genetic basis of Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome is largely unknown and seems heterogeneous, and a small number of cases were found to have mutations in the WNT4 gene. The aim of this study was to identify possible recurrent submicroscopic imbalances in a cohort of familial and sporadic cases with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome. Methods: Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification was used to screen the subtelomeric sequences of all chromosomes in 30 patients with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome (sporadic, n = 27 and familial, n = 3). Segregation analysis and pyrosequencing were applied to validate the MLPA results in the informative family. Results: Partial duplication of the Xpter pseudoautosomal region 1 containing the short stature homeobox (SHOX) gene was detected in five patients with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome (familial, n = 3 and sporadic, n = 2) and not in 53 healthy controls. The duplications were not overlapping, and SHOX was never entirely duplicated. Haplotyping in the informative family revealed that SHOX gene duplication was inherited from the unaffected father and was absent in two healthy sisters. Conclusions: Partial duplication of SHOX gene is found in some cases with both familial and sporadic Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser type I syndrome. Genet Med 2010:12(10):634-640.