Pre- and postnatal findings in a patient with a novel rec(8)dup(8q)inv(8)(p23.2q22.3) associated with San Luis Valley syndrome

San Luis Valley syndrome, which is due to a recombinant chromosome 8 (SLV Rec8) found in Hispanic individuals from Southwestern United States, is a well-established syndrome associated with intellectual disabilities and, frequently, severe cardiac anomalies. We report for the first time on a Moroccan girl with a recombinant chromosome 8 prenatally diagnosed as SLV Rec8 by conventional cytogenetic studies. At birth, an oligo array-CGH (105 K) defined the breakpoints and the size of the imbalanced segments, with a deletion of ≈ 2.27 Mb (8p23.2-pter) and a duplication of ≈ 41.93 Mb (8q22.3-qter); thus this recombinant chromosome 8 differed from that previously reported in SLV Rec8 syndrome. The phenotypic characteristics associated with this SLV Rec8 genotype overlap those commonly found in patients with 8q duplication reported in the literature. We review SLV Rec8 and other chromosome 8 aberrations and suggest that the overexpression of cardiogenic genes located at 8q may be the cause of the cardiac defects in this patient.

Acute fatty liver of pregnancy and neonatal long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase (LCHAD) deficiency

Here we report a 7-month-old girl with long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase (LCHAD) deficiency with hypoketotic hypoglycemia; the mother had a history of acute fatty liver in a previous pregnancy leading to fetal death at 34 weeks of gestation. The misense mutation 1528G > C was detected in both alleles in the proband and in one allele in both parents. We emphasize that screening for fatty acid oxidation disorders and specifically LCHAD deficiency should be performed in newborns from mothers with hepatic complications during pregnancy such as acute fatty liver of pregnancy or severe or recurrent HELLP syndrome.