Clinical and genetic spectrum of 18 unrelated Korean patients with Sotos syndrome: frequent 5q35 microdeletion and identification of four novel NSD1 mutations.

Sotos syndrome is an overgrowth syndrome with characteristic facial dysmorphism, variable severity of learning disabilities and macrocephaly with overgrowth. Haploinsufficiency of the nuclear receptor SET domain-containing protein 1 (NSD1) gene located on 5q35 has been implicated as the cause of Sotos syndrome. This study was performed to investigate the mutation spectrum of NSD1 abnormalities and meaningful genotype-phenotype correlations in Korean patients with Sotos syndrome. Eighteen unrelated Korean patients with Sotos syndrome were enrolled for clinical and molecular analyses. Cytogenetic studies were performed to confirm 5q35 microdeletion, and NSD1 sequencing analysis was performed to identify intragenic mutations. NSD1 abnormalities were identified in 15 (83%) patients. Among them, eight patients (53%) had 5q35 microdeletions and the other seven patients (47%) had seven different NSD1 intragenic mutations including four novel mutations. The mutation spectrum of Korean patients with Sotos syndrome was similar to that of previous studies for Japanese patients. Height was significantly shorter and age of walking alone was significantly older in the microdeletion group compared with those in the intragenic mutation group. No significant differences were observed for other clinical characteristics between the microdeletion and intragenic mutation groups. Further studies with a larger number of patients will be necessary to draw conclusive genotype-phenotype correlations.