[HTML][HTML] Genetic variants associated with port-wine stains

A Frigerio, K Wright, W Wooderchak-Donahue… - PLoS …, 2015 - journals.plos.org
A Frigerio, K Wright, W Wooderchak-Donahue, OT Tan, R Margraf, DA Stevenson…
PLoS One, 2015journals.plos.org
Background Port-wine stains (PWS) are capillary malformations, typically located in the
dermis of the head and neck, affecting 0.3% of the population. Current theories suggest that
port-wine stains are caused by somatic mutations that disrupt vascular development.
Objectives Understanding PWS genetic determinants could provide insight into new
treatments. Methods Our study used a custom next generation sequencing (NGS) panel and
digital polymerase chain reaction to investigate genetic variants in 12 individuals with …
Background
Port-wine stains (PWS) are capillary malformations, typically located in the dermis of the head and neck, affecting 0.3% of the population. Current theories suggest that port-wine stains are caused by somatic mutations that disrupt vascular development.
Objectives
Understanding PWS genetic determinants could provide insight into new treatments.
Methods
Our study used a custom next generation sequencing (NGS) panel and digital polymerase chain reaction to investigate genetic variants in 12 individuals with isolated port-wine stains. Importantly, affected and healthy skin tissue from the same individual were compared. A subtractive correction method was developed to eliminate background noise from NGS data. This allowed the detection of a very low level of mosaicism.
Results
A novel somatic variant GNAQ, c.547C>G, p.Arg183Gly was found in one case with 4% allele frequency. The previously reported GNAQ c.548G>A, p.Arg183Gln was confirmed in 9 of 12 cases with an allele frequency ranging from 1.73 to 7.42%. Digital polymerase chain reaction confirmed novel variants detected by next generation sequencing. Two novel somatic variants were also found in RASA1, although neither was predicted to be deleterious.
Conclusions
This is the second largest study on isolated, non-syndromic PWS. Our data suggest that GNAQ is the main genetic determinant in this condition. Moreover, isolated port-wine stains are distinct from capillary malformations seen in RASA1 disorders, which will be helpful in clinical evaluation.
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