A novel filamin A D203Y mutation in a female patient with otopalatodigital type 1 syndrome and extremely skewed X chromosome inactivation.

Otopalatodigital syndrome type 1 (OPD1) [OMIM 311300] is an X-linked dominant multiple congenital anomalies disease mainly characterized by a generalized skeletal dysplasia, mild mental retardation, hearing loss, cleft palate, and typical facial anomalies. OPD1 belongs to a group of X-linked skeletal dysplasias known as oto-palato-digital syndrome spectrum disorders that also include OPD2, Melnick-Needles syndrome (MNS), and frontometaphyseal dysplasia (FMD). Recently, it has been demonstrated that mutations in the gene encoding the cytoskeletal protein Filamin A (FLNA) are responsible for this group of clinically overlapping human syndromes. We present the phenotypic and molecular data of a sporadic female patient clinically diagnosed with an OPD1 syndrome who carried a novel FLNA point mutation resulting in an Asp203Tyr substitution in the actin-binding domain of the protein. X-inactivation analyses demonstrated an extremely skewed pattern towards her maternal chromosome. Our results add to the molecular spectrum of the oto-palato-digital related syndromes and contribute to the delineation of phenotype-genotype correlation in this group of X-linked skeletal disorders. Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.