Familial agnathia-holoprosencephaly.

Two stillborn sisters had characteristics of both agnathia and holoprosencephaly. Familial occurrence implies that agnathia-holoprosencephaly may be determined by a single recessive gene, something to be taken into account when counseling such families. Evidence from human experience and various animal models suggests that agnathia-holoprosencephaly represents a causally heterogeneous single developmental field defect. Anatomical studies of these two stillborn sisters support the view that they shared a developmental field defect which affected structures in the face, cranial cavity, and upper neck. The pathogenesis of these variably expressed defects probably relates to defects in neural crest cells of cranial origin and/or to underlying mesodermal support elements of these cells.