16p13.3 duplication associated with non-syndromic pierre robin sequence with incomplete penetrance

Pierre Robin sequence (PRS) is a condition present at birth. It is characterized by micrognathia, cleft palate, upper airway obstruction, and feeding problems. Multiple etiologies including genetic defects have been documented in patients with syndromic, non-syndromic, and isolated PRS.

We report a 4-year-old boy with a complex small supernumerary marker chromosome (sSMC) who had non-syndromic Pierre Robin sequence (PRS). The complex marker chromosome, der(14)t(14;16)(q11.2;p13.13), was initially identified by routine chromosomal analysis and subsequently characterized by array-comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) and confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Clinical manifestations included micrognathia, U-type cleft palate, bilateral congenital ptosis, upslanted and small eyes, bilateral inguinal hernias, umbilical hernia, bilateral clubfoot, and short fingers and toes. To our best knowledge, this was the first case diagnosed with non-syndromic PRS associated with a complex sSMC, which involved a 3.8 Mb gain in the 14q11.2 region and an 11.8 Mb gain in the 16p13.13-pter region.

We suggest that the duplicated chromosome segment 16p13.3 possibly may be responsible for the phenotypes of our case and also may be a candidate locus of non-syndromic PRS. The duplicated CREBBP gene within chromosome 16p13.3 is associated with incomplete penetrance regarding the mandible development anomalies. Further studies of similar cases are needed to support our findings.