Cornelia de Lange Syndrome: Sequencing Panel
Mutations in five genes, HDAC8, NIPBL (5p13.1), RAD21, SMC1A, and SMC3 are currently reported to cause Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS). Mutations in the NIPBL gene more often cause the classical form of CdLS, while mutations in the HDAC8, RAD21, SMC1A, and SMC3 genes often cause a more mild form of CdLS. Classical CdLS is characterized by distinctive facial features (including microbrachycephaly, arched eyebrows, long, thick eyelashes, low-set posteriorly rotated and/or hirsute ears with thickened helices, depressed or broad nasal bridge, long smooth philtrum, high arched or cleft palate, small widely-spaced teeth, micrognathia, and a short neck), growth retardation, hirsutism, and upper limb reduction deficits. Additional features include intellectual disability, cardiac defects, gastrointestinal dysfunction, hearing loss, myopia, and hypoplastic genitalia. Individuals with a milder phenotype have less severe growth, cognitive, and limb involvement but usually have the classical facial features associated with CdLS.