A case with Emanuel syndrome: extra derivative 22 chromosome inherited from the mother

Early detection of Emanuel syndrome: a case report

Objectives

Emanuel syndrome is a rare inherited syndrome, a correct in utero diagnosis allows effective management for ongoing and future pregnancies.

Case presentation

Here, we report a case of a complete non-mosaic trisomy 22, with several prenatal sonographic findings, that was diagnosed in utero at 15 weeks’ gestation and then it was confirmed with chromosomal analysis and postmortem examination.

Conclusions

Every anatomical difference should always be further investigated in order to achieve the correct diagnosis.

Ocular manifestations of Emanuel syndrome

Emanuel syndrome is caused by a supernumerary der(22)t(11;22) and typically manifests with intellectual disability and craniofacial dysmorphism. Ocular abnormalities have infrequently been described. We report a 36-year-old man with severe intellectual disability, aphasia, and facial dysmorphism, with high myopia and juvenile open angle glaucoma (JOAG). Microarray analysis results included 47,XY,+der(22)t(11;22)(q23;q11.2), and a 269 kb deletion of 7q31.33(125,898,014-126,166,829). Two candidate genes were identified as possible etiologies for the ocular pathologies in our patient: a MFRP duplication on chromosome 11, which may play a role in high myopia and dysregulation of emmetropization, and a GRM8 deletion on chromosome 7, which may cause glutamate-induced excitotoxicity and therefore have a role in the development of JOAG, unrelated to the Emanuel syndrome genotype. We provide the first detailed description these ocular abnormalities in a patient with Emmanuel syndrome.