Localization of the ICF syndrome to chromosome 20 by homozygosity mapping

Immunodeficiency in association with centromere instability of chromosomes 1, 9, and 16 and facial anomalies (ICF syndrome) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder. ICF patients show marked hypomethylation of their DNA; undermethylation of classical satellites II and III is thought to be associated with the centromere instability. We used DNA from three consanguineous families with a total of four ICF patients and performed a total genome screen, to localize the ICF syndrome gene by homozygosity mapping. One chromosomal region (20q11-q13) was consistently found to be homozygous in ICF patients, whereas all healthy sibs showed a heterozygous pattern. Comparison of the regions of homozygosity in the four ICF patients localized the ICF locus to a 9-cM region between the markers D20S477 and D20S850. Analysis of more families will be required, to refine the map location further. Isolation of the gene associated with the ICF syndrome not only will give insight into the etiology of the ICF syndrome but will also broaden our understanding of DNA methylation processes.