Interstitial 1q25.3-q31.3 deletion in a boy with mild manifestations

We describe a 4-year-old boy with an accessory right thumb, short and broad toes, cryptorchidism, micrognathia, abnormally modeled ears, and delayed speech development. The chromosome analysis of patient's peripheral blood lymphocytes by conventional GTG banding demonstrated a small deletion in the long arm of chromosome 1. Confirmation and defined localization of the deleted segment to chromosomal bands 1q25.3-q31.3 was obtained by high resolution prometaphase analysis. Molecular studies, using a set of polymorphic chromosome 1q specific microsatellite markers, localized the deletion between the markers D1S2127 and D1S1727 on the paternally inherited chromosome 1. The maximum physical distance between these markers is approximately 21 Mb. The previously described two patients with 1q25-q31 deletions both had severe clinical manifestations, just as the other 10 patients with the proposed "intermediate 1q deletion syndrome," associated with 1q25-q32 deletions. Distinct from all these patients, the clinical picture of our patient is markedly milder, i.e., without growth retardation, microcephaly, or clear mental retardation. (C) 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.