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Purpose: Thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection (TAAD) is a life-threatening disease with often unrecognized inherited forms. We sought to identify novel pathogenic variants associated with autosomal dominant inheritance of TAAD., Methods: We analyzed exome sequencing data from 35 French TAAD families and performed next-generation sequencing capture panel of genes in 1114 unrelated TAAD patients. Functional effects of pathogenic variants identified were validated in cell, tissue, and mouse models., Results: We identified five functional variants in THSD4 of which two heterozygous variants lead to a premature termination codon. THSD4 encodes ADAMTSL6 (member of the ADAMTS/L superfamily), a microfibril-associated protein that promotes fibrillin-1 matrix assembly. The THSD4 variants studied lead to haploinsufficiency or impaired assembly of fibrillin-1 microfibrils. Thsd4 +/- mice showed progressive dilation of the thoracic aorta. Histologic examination of aortic samples from a patient carrying a THSD4 variant and from Thsd4 +/- mice, revealed typical medial degeneration and diffuse disruption of extracellular matrix., Conclusion: These findings highlight the role of ADAMTSL6 in aortic physiology and TAAD pathogenesis. They will improve TAAD management and help develop new targeted therapies.

The aim of the study was to determine the presence of aortic dilatation in hypertensive children, the prevalence of which is 4% to 10% in hypertensive adults. Prospectively enrolled multiethnic children, untreated for their hypertension, underwent an echocardiogram to exclude congenital heart disease and evaluate for end-organ damage and aortic size. The aorta was measured in the parasternal long-axis view at three levels: the sinus of Valsalva, supra-tubular junction, and the ascending aorta. Aortic dilatation was determined by z-score >2 at any one of the levels measured. Hypertension was defined as blood pressure above the 95th percentile based on the Fourth Working Group criteria confirmed by 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. Among 142 consecutive hypertensive children (median age, 14 years; 45% females) aortic dilatation was detected in 2.8% (95% confidence interval, 1%-7%; median age, 16 years; 100% females). Children with aortic dilatation, when compared with those without, had significantly more aortic valve insufficiency (P = .005) and left ventricular hypertrophy (P = .018). Prevalence of aortic dilatation was 2.8% and was associated with significantly more aortic insufficiency and left ventricular hypertrophy in comparison to those without aortic dilatation., (Copyright © 2014 American Society of Hypertension. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Turner syndrome is a developmental disorder caused by partial or complete monosomy for the X chromosome in 1 in 2,500 females. We hypothesized that single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array genotyping could provide superior resolution in comparison to metaphase karyotype analysis to facilitate genotype-phenotype correlations., Methods: We genotyped 187 Turner syndrome patients with 733,000 SNP marker arrays. All cases met diagnostic criteria for Turner syndrome based on karyotypes (60%) or characteristic physical features. The SNP array results confirmed the diagnosis of Turner syndrome in 100% of cases., Results: We identified a single X chromosome (45,X) in 113 cases. In 58 additional cases (31%), other mosaic cell lines were present, including isochromosomes (16%), rings (5%), and Xp deletions (8%). The remaining cases were mosaic for monosomy X and normal male or female cell lines. Array-based models of X chromosome structure were compatible with karyotypes in 104 of 116 comparable cases (90%). We found that the SNP array data did not detect X-autosome translocations (three cases) but did identify two derivative Y chromosomes and 13 large copy-number variants that were not detected by karyotyping., Conclusion: Our study is the first systematic comparison between the two methods and supports the utility of SNP array genotyping to address clinical and research questions in Turner syndrome.

Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS) is a hereditary disorder in which a defective gene encoding 7-dehydrocholesterol reductase causes the accumulation of noncholesterol sterols, such as 7- and 8-dehydrocholesterol. Using rigorous analytical methods in conjunction with a large collection of authentic standards, we unequivocally identified numerous noncholesterol sterols in 6 normal and 17 SLOS blood samples. Plasma or erythrocytes were saponified under oxygen-free conditions, followed by multiple chromatographic separations. Individual sterols were identified and quantitated by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Ag(+)-HPLC, gas chromatography (GC), GC-mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance. As a percentage of total sterol content, the major C(27) sterols observed in the SLOS blood samples were cholesterol (12;-98%), 7-dehydrocholesterol (0.4;-44%), 8-dehydrocholesterol (0.5;-22%), and cholesta-5,7,9(11)-trien-3beta-ol (0.02;-5%), whereas the normal blood samples contained <0.03% each of the three noncholesterol sterols. SLOS and normal blood contained similar amounts of lathosterol (0.05;-0.6%) and cholestanol (0.1;-0.4%) and approximately 0.003;-0.1% each of the Delta(8), Delta(8(14)), Delta(5,8(14)), Delta(5,24), Delta(6,8), Delta(6,8(14)), and Delta(7,24) sterols. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the Delta(8(14)) sterol is an intermediate of cholesterol synthesis and indicate the existence of undescribed aberrant pathways that may explain the formation of the Delta(5,7,9(11)) sterol. 19-Norcholesta-5,7,9-trien-3beta-ol was absent in both SLOS and normal blood, although it was routinely observed as a GC artifact in fractions containing 8-dehydrocholesterol. The overall findings advance the understanding of SLOS and provide a methodological model for studying other metabolic disorders of cholesterol synthesis.

A large east Texas family with autosomal dominant inheritance of a novel bleeding disorder has been identified. The disorder is characterized clinically by easy bruising, life-threatening bleeding with trauma or surgery, and menorrhagia in affected women. Laboratory studies demonstrated prolongation of the prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time in affected individuals. Paradoxically, assays of known coagulation factors are all within normal limits. To determine the molecular basis of this disease, a candidate gene linkage analysis in this kindred was done. Initially it was hypothesized that the cause of the disease in this family could be an antithrombin III (AT3) mutation that resulted in a constitutively active AT3 in the absence of heparin binding. Linkage studies using DNA from the family and an intragenic polymorphic marker within the AT3 gene showed that the disease mapped to this locus. The coding region and intron/exon junctions of AT3 were sequenced using the proband's DNA, but this analysis failed to identify a mutation. Additional family members were recruited for the study, and 16 polymorphic markers around the AT3 gene were analyzed. Using 2 recombinants, the critical interval for the defective gene was narrowed to approximately 1.5 Mb, centromeric to AT3. The factor V (FV) gene was mapped into the disease interval and sequenced; there were no mutations found. Elucidation of the genetic defect causing the bleeding disorder in this family may reveal a novel protein involved in the coagulation cascade.

Over the last decade, a considerable amount of new information has emerged describing the protein components of elastic fibers. It is now evident that elastic fibers are complex extracellular matrix polymers, composed of at least 19 different proteins that comprise both the microfibrillar and the amorphous components of elastic fibers. Mutations in three of the genes encoding the most abundant of these elastic fiber proteins result in a broad spectrum of elastic tissue phenotypes, ranging from skeletal and skin abnormalities to vascular and ocular defects. The following disorders will be discussed in this review: supravalvular aortic stenosis; Williams-Beuren syndrome; cutis laxa; Marfan syndrome; ectopia lentis; familial thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections; MASS syndrome; isolated skeletal features of Marfan syndrome; Shprintzen-Goldberg syndrome; and congenital contractural arachnodactyly.

Purpose: Evidence suggesting that genetic factors contribute to the development of common disorders can be obtained by demonstrating familial aggregation of the disease. This study investigated whether thoracic aortic dilations and dissections aggregate in families by comparing the prevalence of thoracic aortic aneurysms, thoracic aortic dissections, and sudden death in first-degree relatives of patients referred for thoracic aortic surgery., Methods: Families were ascertained through 158 nonsyndromic patients referred for surgical correction of either thoracic aortic aneurysms or dissections (probands) and their 843 first-degree relatives. A control group of 547 first-degree relatives was derived from 114 proband spouses. Groups were examined for statistical differences in the prevalence of thoracic aneurysms, thoracic aortic dissections, abdominal aortic aneurysms, sudden death, and myocardial infarctions., Results: First-degree relatives of probands demonstrated a higher prevalence of thoracic aortic aneurysms and sudden death when compared with the control group. Relative risks of thoracic aortic aneurysm development in proband fathers, brothers, and sisters were 1.8, 10.9, and 1.8, respectively. A pattern of inheritance of the thoracic aortic aneurysms could not be determined., Conclusions: This study indicates proband first-degree relatives are at higher risk of thoracic aortic aneurysms and sudden death compared with a control group. This study supports the role of genetic factors in the cause of thoracic aortic aneurysms and provides important information for identifying individuals at risk.

Bovine Marfan syndrome is a disorder that closely resembles human Marfan syndrome in its clinical signs and pathological lesions. The similarities between the human and bovine diseases suggest that similar metabolic defects could be responsible. Although indirect immunofluorescent assays for fibrillin in skin biopsies did not distinguish affected cattle from control animals, cultures of skin fibroblasts of affected animals were distinguished from normal, unrelated control animals and normal half-siblings on the basis of fibrillin staining. After 72 to 96 hours in culture, stained with anti-fibrillin monoclonal antibody 201, hyperconfluent fibroblast cultures of affected cattle had less immunoreactive fibrillin than control cultures, and the staining pattern was granular rather than fibrillar. Under similar culture conditions, normal bovine aortic smooth muscle cells produced large amounts of immunoreactive fibrillin, but smooth muscle cells from a single affected cow showed markedly less fibrillin staining. In pulse-chase metabolic labeling experiments with [35S]cysteine, dermal fibroblasts from 6 affected calves, incorporated far less fibrillin into the extracellular matrix than control cells. These findings are similar to those reported in human Marfan syndrome, and they suggest that the bovine Marfan syndrome, like the human disorder, is caused by a mutation in fibrillin, leading to defective microfibrillar synthesis.