An increasing number of individuals with intellectual developmental disorder (IDD) and heterozygous variants in BCL11A are identified, yet our knowledge of manifestations and mutational spectrum is lacking. To address this, we performed detailed analysis of 42 individuals with BCL11A-related IDD (BCL11A-IDD, a.k.a. Dias-Logan syndrome) ascertained through an international collaborative network, and reviewed 35 additional previously reported patients. Analysis of 77 affected individuals identified 60 unique disease-causing variants (30 frameshift, 7 missense, 6 splice-site, 17 stop-gain) and 8 unique BCL11A microdeletions. We define the most prevalent features of BCL11A-IDD: IDD, postnatal-onset microcephaly, hypotonia, behavioral abnormalities, autism spectrum disorder, and persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HbF), and identify autonomic dysregulation as new feature. BCL11A-IDD is distinguished from 2p16 microdeletion syndrome, which has a higher incidence of congenital anomalies. Our results underscore BCL11A as an important transcription factor in human hindbrain development, identifying a previously underrecognized phenotype of a small brainstem with a reduced pons/medulla ratio. Genotype-phenotype correlation revealed an isoform-dependent trend in severity of truncating variants: those affecting all isoforms are associated with higher frequency of hypotonia, and those affecting the long (BCL11A-L) and extra-long (-XL) isoforms, sparing the short (-S), are associated with higher frequency of postnatal microcephaly. With the largest international cohort to date, this study highlights persistence of fetal hemoglobin as a consistent biomarker and hindbrain abnormalities as a common feature. It contributes significantly to our understanding of BCL11A-IDD through an extensive unbiased multi-center assessment, providing valuable insights for diagnosis, management and counselling, and into BCL11A's role in brain development.

BCL11A intellectual developmental disorder: defining the clinical spectrum and genotype-phenotype correlations / Peron, Angela; D'Arco, Felice; Aldinger, Kimberly A; Smith-Hicks, Constance; Zweier, Christiane; Gradek, Gyri A; Bradbury, Kimberley; Accogli, Andrea; Andersen, Erica F; Au, Ping Yee Billie; Battini, Roberta; Beleford, Daniah; Bird, Lynne M; Bouman, Arjan; Bruel, Ange-Line; Busk, Øyvind Løvold; Campeau, Philippe M; Capra, Valeria; Carlston, Colleen; Carmichael, Jenny; Chassevent, Anna; Clayton-Smith, Jill; Bamshad, Michael J; Earl, Dawn L; Faivre, Laurence; Philippe, Christophe; Ferreira, Patrick; Graul-Neumann, Luitgard; Green, Mary J; Haffner, Darrah; Haldipur, Parthiv; Hanna, Suhair; Houge, Gunnar; Jones, Wendy D; Kraus, Cornelia; Kristiansen, Birgit Elisabeth; Lespinasse, James; Low, Karen J; Lynch, Sally Ann; Maia, Sofia; Mao, Rong; Kalinauskiene, Ruta; Melver, Catherine; McDonald, Kimberly; Montgomery, Tara; Morleo, Manuela; Motter, Constance; Openshaw, Amanda S; Palumbos, Janice Cox; Parikh, Aditi Shah; Perilla-Young, Yezmin; Powell, Cynthia M; Person, Richard; Desai, Megha; Piard, Juliette; Pfundt, Rolph; Scala, Marcello; Serey-Gaut, Margaux; Shears, Deborah; Slavotinek, Anne; Suri, Mohnish; Turner, Claire; Tvrdik, Tatiana; Weiss, Karin; Wentzensen, Ingrid M; Zollino, Marcella; Hsieh, Tzung-Chien; de Vries, Bert B A; Guillemot, Francois; Dobyns, William B; Viskochil, David; Dias, Cristina. - In: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN GENETICS. - ISSN 1018-4813. - STAMPA. - (2024), pp. 0-12. [10.1038/s41431-024-01701-z]

BCL11A intellectual developmental disorder: defining the clinical spectrum and genotype-phenotype correlations

Peron, Angela
;
Accogli, Andrea;Battini, Roberta;
2024

Abstract

An increasing number of individuals with intellectual developmental disorder (IDD) and heterozygous variants in BCL11A are identified, yet our knowledge of manifestations and mutational spectrum is lacking. To address this, we performed detailed analysis of 42 individuals with BCL11A-related IDD (BCL11A-IDD, a.k.a. Dias-Logan syndrome) ascertained through an international collaborative network, and reviewed 35 additional previously reported patients. Analysis of 77 affected individuals identified 60 unique disease-causing variants (30 frameshift, 7 missense, 6 splice-site, 17 stop-gain) and 8 unique BCL11A microdeletions. We define the most prevalent features of BCL11A-IDD: IDD, postnatal-onset microcephaly, hypotonia, behavioral abnormalities, autism spectrum disorder, and persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HbF), and identify autonomic dysregulation as new feature. BCL11A-IDD is distinguished from 2p16 microdeletion syndrome, which has a higher incidence of congenital anomalies. Our results underscore BCL11A as an important transcription factor in human hindbrain development, identifying a previously underrecognized phenotype of a small brainstem with a reduced pons/medulla ratio. Genotype-phenotype correlation revealed an isoform-dependent trend in severity of truncating variants: those affecting all isoforms are associated with higher frequency of hypotonia, and those affecting the long (BCL11A-L) and extra-long (-XL) isoforms, sparing the short (-S), are associated with higher frequency of postnatal microcephaly. With the largest international cohort to date, this study highlights persistence of fetal hemoglobin as a consistent biomarker and hindbrain abnormalities as a common feature. It contributes significantly to our understanding of BCL11A-IDD through an extensive unbiased multi-center assessment, providing valuable insights for diagnosis, management and counselling, and into BCL11A's role in brain development.
2024
0
12
Peron, Angela; D'Arco, Felice; Aldinger, Kimberly A; Smith-Hicks, Constance; Zweier, Christiane; Gradek, Gyri A; Bradbury, Kimberley; Accogli, Andrea;...espandi
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Peron et al 2024 BCL11A.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Pdf editoriale (Version of record)
Licenza: Open Access
Dimensione 5.26 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
5.26 MB Adobe PDF

I documenti in FLORE sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/1399961
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 1
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact