Absent inner dynein arms in a fetus with familial hydrocephalus-situs abnormality

Am J Med Genet A. 2004 Sep 1;129A(3):308-11. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.a.30177.

Abstract

We report a family in which a healthy, unrelated couple had a male fetus with bilateral ventriculomegaly, a normal liveborn girl, a hydatidiform molar pregnancy, a female fetus with ventriculomegaly and situs abnormalities, and a male fetus with hydrocephalus, a three-lobed left lung, and defective tracheal cilia with absent inner dynein arms and a single centriole. A mutation analysis of FOXJ1 and POLL in the last fetus with ciliary defect revealed no mutation within their coding regions. The presence of three affected fetuses of both sexes in a family with phenotypically normal parents suggests that the condition was inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. A thorough evaluation of the thoracic and abdominal situs is recommended before counseling a family of a child with hydrocephalus, because the recognition of situs defects may point to the diagnosis of primary ciliary defect and recurrence risk of 25% for siblings. This figure is much higher than the general risk of 1-2% for siblings of a patient with isolated hydrocephalus.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Abnormalities, Multiple / genetics
  • Abnormalities, Multiple / pathology*
  • Aborted Fetus
  • Cerebral Ventricles / abnormalities*
  • Cilia / pathology*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • Dyneins / chemistry*
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Forkhead Transcription Factors
  • Humans
  • Hydrocephalus / pathology*
  • Kartagener Syndrome / genetics
  • Kartagener Syndrome / metabolism
  • Kartagener Syndrome / pathology*
  • Male
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Situs Inversus / pathology
  • Trans-Activators / genetics

Substances

  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • FOXJ1 protein, human
  • Forkhead Transcription Factors
  • Trans-Activators
  • Dyneins