• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.56-62
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• 2014

Purpose: To assess the outcomes of increased fetal nuchal translucency (NT), to aid in prenatal counseling and management in our practice. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent first trimester fetal karyotyping using chorionic villi sampling (CVS) and second trimester level II sonography for a fetal NT thickness ${\geq}3.0mm$ between 11 weeks and 13 weeks 6 days' gestation, at Gyeongsang National University Hospital. Pediatric medical records and a telephone interview were used to follow-up live-born children. Exclusion criteria included incomplete data and CVS for other indications. Results: Seventy cases met the inclusion criteria (median NT thickness, 4.7 mm; range, 3.0-16.1 mm). Twenty-nine cases (41.4%) were aneuploid. The prevalence of chromosomal defects increased with NT thickness: NT 3.0-3.4 mm, 16.7%; NT 3.5-4.4 mm, 27.3%; NT 4.5-5.4 mm, 66.7%; NT 5.5-6.4 mm, 37.5%; NT ${\geq}6.5mm$, 62.5%. The most common karyotype abnormality was trisomy 18 (n=12), followed by trisomy 21 (n=9). In chromosomally normal fetuses (n=41), fetal death occurred in 2 cases (4.9%), and structural malformations were found in 11 cases (26.8%). In chromosomally and anatomically normal fetuses (n=28), one child had neurodevelopmental delay (3.6%). Twenty-eight infants who had a prenatal increased NT were alive and well at follow-up (40%). Conclusion: Outcomes of increased fetal NT might help inform prenatal counseling and management. The high prevalence of chromosomal defects associated with increased fetal NT implies that CVS should be performed in the first trimester, particularly considering the stress associated with an uncertain diagnosis.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.23-26
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• 1998

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an autosomal dominant neuromuscular disorder which has been clinically shown to cause progressive weakness and result in atrophy of the facial muscles, shoulder girdle and upper arm muscles. The responsible gene for the FSHD has been located on chromosome 4q35-qter. The probes p13E-11 and pFR-1 detect DNA rearrangements associated with FSHD as under 28 kb DNA fragment in genomic southern analysis digested with EcoRI and the fragment contains 3.3 kb Kpn I tandem repeats. In this study, 4 fetuses with a family history of FSHD were analysed by genomic southern hybridization analysis with probes to determine whether they carried the deleted region. Of the 4 fetuses, three of them had mothers who were FSHD patients and the other one had a father affected with FSHD. After 10-11 weeks of gestation, we performed chorionic villi sampling and extracted DNA from uncultured and cultured tissue cells for the direct DNA analysis. The result of the southern analysis showed two fetuses having received about 15-18 kb of deleted genes from the father and the mother respectively, and found to be FSHD patients. The other two fetuses were shown to have two normal alleles from the parents and found to be normal. Two pregnancies which were determined to be normal were carried to term delivering two healthy babies.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.131-135
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• 1994

A 27-year-old pregnant woman who had one son with mental and growh retardation and dysmorphic features, was referred for genetic counselling. Cytogenetic investigations revealed 4/22 translocation in the mother(46, XX, t(4;22)(p14;P11)), partial trisomy 4p in son(46, XY, -22, +der(22), t(4;22)(p14;p11)mat). The father had normal karyotype. Amniocentesis and chorionic villi sampling were performed in 3 successive pregnancies. The karyotypes of fetus in 3rd, 4th pregnancies by amniocentesis were 46, XX, t(4;22)(p14;p11) and 46, XX, t(4;22) (p14;p11), and the karyotype of fetus in 5th pregnancy by chorionic villi sampling was found to be 46, XX, -22, +der(22) t(4;22)(p14;p11)mat. We report 3 succesive prenatally diagnosed familial partial trisomy 4p and 4/22 translocation of maternal origin with review of literature.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.94-107
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• 2005

Prenatal diagnosis (PND) such as amniocentesis or chorionic villi sampling has been widely used in order to prevent the birth of babies with defects especially in families with single gene disorderor chromosomal abnormalities. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has already become an alternative to traditional PND. Indications for PGD have expanded beyond those practices in PND (chromosomal abnormalities, single gene defects), such as late-onset diseases with genetic predisposition, and HLA typing for stem cell transplantation to affected sibling. After in vitro fertilization, the biopsied blastomere from the embryo is analyzed for single gene defect or chromosomal abnormality. The unaffected embryos are selected for transfer to the uterine cavity. Therefore, PGD has an advantage over PND as it can avoid the risk of pregnancy termination. In this review, PGD will be introduced and application of PGD in inborn error metabolic disorder will be discussed.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.72-78
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• 2015

Recently, noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT) has been adopted as a primary screening tool for fetal chromosomal aneuploidy. The principle of NIPT lies in isolating the fetal fraction of cell-free DNA in maternal plasma and analyzing it with bioinformatic tools to measure the amount of gene from the target chromosome, such as chromosomes 21, 18, and 13. NIPT will contribute to decreasing the need for unnecessary invasive procedures, including amniocentesis and chorionic villi sampling, for confirming fetal aneuploidy because of its higher positive predictive value than that of the conventional prenatal screening method. However, its greater cost than that of the current antenatal screening protocol may be an obstacle to the adoption of this innovative technique in clinical practice. Digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) is a novel approach for detecting and quantifying nucleic acid. dPCR provides real-time diagnostic advantages with higher sensitivity, accuracy, and absolute quantification than conventional quantitative PCR. Since the groundbreaking discovery that fetal cell-free nucleic acid exists in maternal plasma was reported, dPCR has been used for the quantification of fetal DNA and for screening for fetal aneuploidy. It has been suggested that dPCR will decrease the cost by targeting specific sequences in the target chromosome, and dPCR-based noninvasive testing will facilitate progress toward the implementation of a noninvasive approach for screening for trisomy 21, 18, and 13. In this review, we highlight the principle of dPCR and discuss its future implications in clinical practice.

• 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.