Molecular cytogenetic characterization of a unique and complex de novo 8p rearrangement

Human chromosome 8p is prone to recurrent rearrangements with inv dup del(8p) being most common. Each of these recurrent rearrangements is associated with different clinical manifestations. Some of these recurrent rearrangements at 8p are mediated by an 8p submicroscopic paracentric inversion between the olfactory gene clusters present in one of the parents. However, recent reports have shown that some of the rearrangements are unique and complex and are mediated by other repetitive elements within 8p. Here, we report on a unique and complex 8p rearrangement with seizures as the major presenting feature in the patient. Extensive fluorescence in situ hybridization and microarray analyses with tiling path 8p array showed that the rearrangement is unique in that the 8p duplication is a direct tandem duplication and, unlike the more common inv dup del(8p), is not derived from parental submicroscopic inversion. Also unlike the inv dup del(8p), the phenotype in our case is milder with no central nervous system malformations or cardiac defects.