15q11.2 proximal imbalances associated with a diverse array of neuropsychiatric disorders and mild dysmorphic...

Deletion within the proximal region of chromosome 15q11.2 between breakpoints 1 and 2 (BP1-BP2) has been proposed to be a risk factor for intellectual disability, seizure, and schizophrenia. However, the clinical significance of its reciprocal duplication is not clearly defined yet. We evaluated 1654 consecutive pediatric patients with various neurological disorders by high-resolution microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization. We identified 21 patients carrying 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 deletion and 12 patients carrying 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 duplication in this cohort, which represent 1.27% (21/1,654) and 0.7% (12/1,654) of the patients analyzed, respectively. Approximately 87.5% of the patients carrying the deletion and 80% of the patients carrying the duplication have developmental delay or intellectual disability. Other recurrent clinical features in these patients include mild dysmorphic features, autistic spectrum disorders, and epilepsy. Our observations provide further evidence in favor of a strong association of 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 deletion with a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders. The diversity of clinical findings in these patients expands the phe-notypic spectrum of individuals carrying the deletion. In addition, possible etiological effects of 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 duplication in neuropsychiatric disorders are proposed.