Pathogenic Copy Number and Sequence Variants in Children Born SGA With Short Stature Without Imprinting Disorders

Children born small-for-gestational-age with short stature (SGA-SS) is associated with (epi)genetic defects, including imprinting disorders (IDs), pathogenic copy number variants (PCNVs), and pathogenic variants of genes involved in growth. However, comprehensive studies evaluating these 3 factors are very limited.

To clarify the contribution of PCNVs and candidate pathogenic variants to SGA-SS.

Comprehensive molecular analyses consisting of methylation analysis, copy number analysis, and multigene sequencing.

We enrolled 140 patients referred to us for genetic testing for SGA-SS. Among them, we excluded 42 patients meeting Netchine-Harbison clinical scoring system criteria for Silver-Russell syndrome and 4 patients with abnormal methylation levels of the IDs-related differentially methylated regions. Consequently, we conducted copy number analysis and multigene sequencing for 86 SGA-SS patients with sufficient sample volume. We also evaluated clinical phenotypes of patients with PCNVs or candidate pathogenic variants.

We identified 8 (9.3%) and 11 (12.8%) patients with PCNVs and candidate pathogenic variants, respectively. According to the American College of Medical Genetics standards and guidelines, 5 variants were classified as pathogenic and the remaining 6 variants were classified as variants of unknown significance. Genetic diagnosis was made in 12 patients. All patients with PCNVs or candidate pathogenic variants did not correspond perfectly to characteristic clinical features of each specific genetic cause.

We clarified the contribution of PCNVs and pathogenic variants to SGA-SS without IDs. Comprehensive molecular analyses, including copy number analysis and multigene sequencing, should be considered for patients with unknown SGA-SS etiology.