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The zinc transporter gene SLC30A4, located on chromosome 15q15-q21, has previously been reported to show altered expression patterns in post mortem analysis of the brains of schizophrenic patients. As a positional candidate we investigated SLC30A4 in the chromosome 15q15-linked schizophrenic phenotype periodic catatonia (MIM 605419), by means of a systematic mutation screening in affected individuals from exceptionally large pedigrees with perfect co-segregation of a chromosomal segment between marker D15S1042 and D15S659 in all affected individuals. The mutation scan revealed no genetic variants within the coding and the putative promoter region of SLC30A4 and, thus, excludes a genetic association of SLC30A4 with catatonic schizophrenia.

Acrodermatitis enteropathica is rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by a severe nutritional zinc deficiency. We and others have recently identified the human gene encoding an intestinal zinc transporter of the ZIP family, SLC39A4, as the mutated gene in acrodermatitis enteropathica (AE). A first mutation screening in 8 AE families (15 patients out of 36 individuals) revealed the presence of six different mutations described elsewhere. Based on these results, we have evaluated the involvement of SLC39A4 in 14 patients of 12 additional AE pedigees coming either from France, Tunisia, Austria or Lithuania. A total of 7 SLC39A4 mutations were identified (1 deletion, 2 nonsense, 2 missense, and 2 modifications of splice site), of which 4 are novel: a homozygous nonsense mutation in 3 consanguineous Tunisian families [c.143T>G (p.Leu48X)], a heterozygous nonsense mutation (c.1203G>A (p.Trp401X)) in a compound heterozygote from Austria also exhibiting an already known missense mutation, and distinct homozygous mutations in families from France or Tunisia [c.475-2A>G and c.184T>C (p.Cys62Arg)]. Furthermore, two other potential mutations [c.850G>A (p.Glu284Lys) and c.193-113T>C] were also observed at homozygous state in a French family formerly described. This study brings to 21 the number of reported SLC39A4 mutations in AE families., (Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

The NF2 gene is a putative tumor-suppressor gene that, when it is altered in the germline, causes neurofibromatosis type 2, a tumor-susceptibility disease that mainly predisposes to schwannomas and meningiomas. The recent isolation of the NF2 gene on chromosome 22 allows the identification of somatic mutations in human tumors. We have searched for mutations of the NF2 gene in 331 primary human tumors using a screening method based on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, which allows the detection of mutations in 95% of the coding sequence. Mutations were observed in 17 of 57 meningiomas and in 30 of 89 schwannomas. No mutations were observed for 17 ependymomas, 70 gliomas, 23 primary melanomas, 24 pheochromocytomas, 15 neuroblastomas, 6 medulloblastomas, 15 colon cancers, and 15 breast cancers. All meningiomas and one-half of the schwannomas with identified NF2 mutations demonstrated chromosome 22 allelic losses. We conclude that the involvement of the NF2 gene in human tumorigenesis may be restricted to schwannomas and meningiomas, where it is frequently inactivated by a two-hit process.

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, responsible for the cystic fibrosis phenotype when both alleles are mutated, was cloned and sequenced in 1989. Since then, more than 400 mutations have been reported in the gene, although most of these are rare. We have systematically analysed the entire coding sequence of the CFTR gene in a cohort of patients originating from the West of France (Caen, Brest and Nantes). More than 450 CF children, 914 chromosomes in all, have been exhaustively studied in the three centers. We have been able to characterize more than 90% of the mutations, respectively 93.5%, 99% and 95.8%. Despite the large diversity in the CFTR mutations occurring in CF patients from this area, these results can help to improve genetic counselling, prenatal diagnosis as well as our understanding of the molecular basis of the pathophysiology of cystic fibrosis.

The cystic fibrosis (CF) gene has been observed to have the highest frequency of mutations in the Caucasian population. Prenatal diagnosis can now be performed with a high degree of accuracy since the identification of most of the gene's mutations, as well as the characterization of intragenic markers. However, the observation of a distribution of clinical phenotypes increases the need to identify a mild phenotype and avoid false-negative diagnosis. By screening most of the exons of the CFTR gene, we showed that a supposed obligate carrier of CF was in fact an asymptomatic affected woman.

We have determined the frequency of the cystic fibrosis (CF) delta F508 mutation in a large sample of CF patients originating from different areas of France, including the greater Paris, Brittany, Alsace, Lorraine and Rhône-Alpes regions. A total of 422 CF chromosomes were studied, and the defect was found to account for 75% of the mutant alleles. In the course of the survey, a rare nucleotide sequence polymorphism leading to an isoleucine to valine substitution at position 506 of the CF transmembrane conductance regulator protein has been characterized in an unaffected individual. Our data enable the evaluation of the probabilities that a chromosome negative for the delta F508 mutation carriers another CF defect.