Complete paternal uniparental isodisomy of chromosome 1 resulting in Herlitz junctional epidermolysis bullosa

Herlitz junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB) is an autosomal recessive mechanobullous disorder that results from loss-of-function mutations in the genes encoding the basement membrane component, laminin 5. Typically, there are frameshift, splice site or nonsense mutations on both alleles of either the LAMA3, LAMB3 or LAMC2 genes, with affected individuals inheriting one mutated allele from each parent. In this report, we describe a patient with Herlitz JEB in whom DNA analysis revealed homozygosity for the recurrent nonsense mutation R635X in LAMB3, located on chromosome 1q32.2. However, screening of parental DNA showed that although the patient's father was a heterozygous carrier of this mutation, the mother's DNA showed only wild-type sequence. Subsequent genotype analysis using 13 microsatellite markers spanning chromosome 1 revealed that the affected child was homozygous for the entire series of markers tested and that all of the alleles originated from the father. These results indicate that the Herlitz JEB phenotype in this patient is due to complete paternal isodisomy of chromosome 1 and reduction to homozygosity of the mutant LAMB3 gene locus. This is the fourth case of uniparental disomy to be described in Herlitz JEB, but it represents the first example of complete paternal isodisomy for chromosome 1 with a pathogenic mutation in the LAMB3 gene. These findings have important implications for mutation screening in JEB and for genetic counselling.