[Aberrations of chromosome 18 and their significance in genetic counseling]

In order to get information on the origin of chromosome 18 aberrations trisomy 18 cases were analysed as well as different chromosome 18 rearrangements. In total, their study population consisted of 100 trisomy 18 patients and their parents, 67 out of which have already been published. Additionally, seven families were analysed with structural aberrations of chromosome 18 including four patients with tetrasomy 18p. Determination of parent and cell stage of origin was performed by short tandem repeat typing (STR, microsatellites). These investigations revealed that the additional chromosomal material in the majority of the chromosomal 18 aberrations was maternal in origin (97/107). In most of the cases the nondisjunction occurred during maternal meiosis II. This was in agreement with findings of other groups. Thus, independently from the type of aberration, there was a predisposition of chromosome 18 for nondisjunction in maternal meiosis II. In this respect, chromosome 18 seemed to be unique among human autosomes. Furthermore, these results showed that molecular genetic analyses of chromosomal aberrations and their formation mechanisms were meaningful tools in genetic counselling situations: in 5 cases where cytogenetic investigations could not performed, the clinical diagnosis of Edwards syndrome could be confirmed by molecular findings. Thus, in these cases other genetic diseases with differing types of inheritance could be excluded from being the cause of the observed malformations. In a further structural rearrangement of chromosome 18, the origin could be determined as being mitotic, therefore a recurrence risk could be excluded for this couple.