Contribution of uniparental disomy to fetal growth restriction: a whole-exome sequencing series in a prenatal setting

Sci Rep. 2024 Jan 2;14(1):238. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-50584-5.

Abstract

Fetal growth restriction (FGR), a leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality, is caused by fetal, maternal, and placental factors. Uniparental disomy (UPD) is a rare condition that leads to imprinting effects, low-level mosaic aneuploidies and homozygosity for pathogenic variants. In the present study, UPD events were detected in 5 women with FGR by trio exome sequencing (trio-WES) of a cohort of 150 FGR cases. Furthermore, noninvasive prenatal testing results of the 5 patients revealed a high risk of rare autosomal trisomy. Trio-WES showed no copy-number variations (CNVs) or nondisease-causing mutations associated with FGR. Among the 5 women with FGR, two showed gene imprinting, and two exhibited confined placental mosaicism (CPM) by copy number variant sequencing (CNV-seq). The present study showed that in FGR patients with UPD, the detection of imprinted genes and CPM could enhance the genetic diagnosis of FGR.

MeSH terms

  • Exome Sequencing
  • Female
  • Fetal Growth Retardation / genetics
  • Humans
  • Mosaicism
  • Placenta*
  • Pregnancy
  • Trisomy
  • Uniparental Disomy* / genetics