• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1098-1102
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• 2022

The placenta is a captivating multifunctional organ of fetal origin and plays an essential role during pregnancy by intimately connecting mother and baby. This study explicates placental pathology and information about 25 placentas collected from the mothers infected with novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2). So far, congenital transmission of SARS-CoV-2 seems to be remarkably uncommon in spite of many cases of COVID-19 during pregnancy. Out of the 25 placental tissue samples collected, none has shown gene expression of SARS-CoV-2 when confirmed by RT-PCR. At the same time, nasal and throat swab samples collected from newborns of SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers correspondingly tested negative by RT-PCR. The shielding properties of placental barriers against viral infections from mothers to newborns remains a mystery. Major histopathological findings have been recorded as choriodecidual tissue with necrosis, intramural fibrin deposition, chorionic villi with fibrosis, and calcification. Moreover, although recent findings are insufficient to prove direct placental transmission of COVID-19, the abundance of angiotensin-converting enzymes-2 (ACE-2) on the placental surface could potentially contribute to unpleasant outcomes during pregnancy as SARS-CoV-2 gains access to human cells via ACE-2. Finally, the significance of these findings is vague and needs further study.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2010

Enzyme replacement of therapy (ERT) is one of the most promising therapeutic strategies for the treatment of lysosomal storage disorders. ERT is available in three types of Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS): for MPS I (Aludrazyme$^{(R)}$), MPS II (Elaprase$^{(R)}$) and MPS VI (Naglazyme$^{(R)}$) patients who are over 5 years old. But recently, early diagnosis can be done by expert clinicians and even in prenatal case. We describe the case of ERT under 5 years old MPS patients. Up to June, 2010 in Samsung Medical Center, there are 6patients who were diagnosed as MPS and started ERT under 5 years old. 3 patients were MPS I, 3 patients were MPS II. 2 patient who was diagnosed as MPS I was female and others were male. Their age at diagnosis were 4 to 37month-old (4, 13, 16, 25, 27, 37 month-old) and they are now 9 to 60 month-old (9, 39, 32, 81, 60 month-old). The youngest patient was started ERT at 4 month-old and others were started at their 13 to 49 month-old (13, 29, 27, 28, 49 month-old). First manifested symptoms of patients were macrocephaly, kyphosis and coarse face appearance. Especially, in 2 of them, one was MPS I and the other was MPS II had elder brother with same disease. And the youngest one was diagnosed by the iduronate-2-sulfatase (IDS) gene analysis from chorionic villi sampling. His mother knew that she was a heterozygous carrier of IDS gene mutation because her younger brother died from MPS II. All of them confirmed as MPS by the enzyme assay in leukocytes and fibroblast skin culture. We started ERT with ${\alpha}$-L-iduronidase(Aldurazyme$^{(R)}$) to MPS I and did recombinant human iduronate-2-sulfatase (Elaprase$^{(R)}$) to MPS II patients as recommended dose as over 5 years old. But for MPS II patient who was 4 month old, we started ERT by recombinant human IDS (Elaprase$^{(R)}$) with reduced dose 0.1 mg/kg and increased dose every 2 weeks by 0.1mg/kg up to 0.5mg/kg IV infusion. During ERT, all patients had no adverse effects and the excretion of GAGs were decreased. We have evaluated other clinical symptoms such as liver/ spleen volume, heart function and neurologic evaluation. We describe a successful ERT to MPS I and MPS II patient under 5 years old without any adverse event. It indicates that ERT in young children are well tolerated and that it has several effects which may confer clinical benefits with long-term therapy.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.82-86
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• 2010

Jumping translocations (JT) are chromosomal rearrangements involving one donor chromosome and several recipient chromosomes. While JTs are frequently observed as acquired chromosomal abnormalities in hematologic malignancies, constitutional JTs are only rarely reported. We report two cases of constitutional JT in chorionic villi derived from the products of conception. The karyotype of the first case was 46,XY,add(18)(p11.1)[61]/45,XY,der(18;21)(q10;q10)[32]/46,XY,-18,+mar[16]/46,XY,i(18)(q10)[9]/45,XY,der(15;18)(q10;q10)[6]/46,XY,+1,dic(1;18)(p22;p11.1)[2]/45,XY,der(13;18)(q10;q10)[1]/46,XY[32]. The donor was a chromosome 18. The recipient chromosomes were chromosomes 1, 13, 15, 18 and 21. In the second case, the karyotype was 46,XY,der(22)t(9;22)(q12;q13)[22]/46,XY,der(22)t(1;22)(q21;q13)[13]/46,XY,add(22)(q13)[5]/46 XY[23]. The donor was a chromosome 22 and recipients were chromosomes 1 and 9. Both cases were de novo. The breakpoints of chromosomes were mostly in centromeric regions, pericentromeric regions, or telomeric regions. Normal cell lines were observed in both cases. This report supports the prior findings that the unstable nature of JT, resulting in chromosomal imbalance, most likely contributed to these early miscarriages.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2007

Purpose : Menkes disease is an X-linked recessively inherited disorder caused by the mutation of the ATP7A gene encoding copper-transporting P-type AT Pase. The phenotypic features are progressive neurological degeneration, mental retardation, loose skin, and vascular complications. Early diagnosis and treatment are very important for the prognosis of Menkes disease. Here, we describe nov el mutations of the ATP7A gene and prenatal diagnosis by mutation analysis. Methods : Five unrelated Korean Menkes patients were included in this study. They presented with depigmented wool-like hair, progressive neurologic deterioration, and hypotonia in infancy. Serum copper and ceruloplasmin levels w ere decreased. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed tortuous intracranial vessels. Mutation analysis has been carried out using cDNA from cultured skin fibroblasts or genomic DNA from peripheral leukocytes. Prenatal diagnosis was performed in two cases using chorionic villi samples or amniocytes. Results : Four novel mutations have been identified from four different families; c.3511+1G>A (p.E1099_N1171delinsMfsX 18), c.4005+5 G>A (p.V1268_R1335del), c.1870_2172del (p.S624_Q724del), and c.3352 G>A (p.G1118S). T he remaining one was previously reported (c.1933 C>T (p.V 1268_R1335del)). On prenatal DNA analysis, one w as diagnosed as normal, while the other turned out to be a female heterozygote with p.S624_Q724del mutation of the ATP7A gene. Conclusion : We identified 4 novel mutations of the ATP7A gene. Prenatal diagnosis in families at risk is critical in order to choose preventiv e options including an early treatment with copper-histidine therapy or therapeutic termination. Most mutations of the ATP7A gene were frame-shift mutations and prenatal diagnosis has been successfully carried out.