Aldosterone synthetase deficiency (ASD) is a rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder caused by the CYP11B2 gene mutation.The clinical manifestations are mainly repeated vomiting, diarrhea, slow physical growth, hyponatremia, hyperkalemia, and hypovolemia in infants and young children.It is clinically difficult to distinguish it from other infantile salt loss diseases.At present, the diagnosis of ASD mainly depends on the measurement of steroid hormone levels and the analysis of genetic variants.9α-Fluhydrocortisone is the main drug for the treatment of ASD, but the treatment regimens are not yet unified.This article reviews the research progress in the etiology, pathogenesis, clinical phenotype, diagnosis and treatment of ASD in order to improve clinicians′ competence in diagnosing and treating this disease.

Methods: This retrospective study analyzed patients who underwent chest CT and DXA at our hospital between August 2021 and August 2022. Thoracic thoracolumbar segment HU values, lumbar T-scores, and hip T-scores were computed for comparison, and thoracic thoracolumbar segment HU thresholds suggestive of potential bone density abnormalities were established using receiver operating characteristic curves. Results: In total, 470 patients (72.4% women; mean age, 65.5±12.3 years) were included in this study. DXA revealed that of the 470 patients, 90 (19%) had osteoporosis, 180 (38%) had reduced osteopenia, and 200 (43%) had normal bone mineral density (BMD). To differentiate osteoporosis from osteopenia, the HU threshold was established as 105.1 (sensitivity, 54.4%; specificity, 72.2%) for T11 and 85.7 (sensitivity, 69.4%; specificity, 61.1%) for T12. To differentiate between osteopenia and normal BMD, the HU threshold was 146.7 for T11 (sensitivity, 57.5%; specificity, 84.4%) and 135.7 for T12 (sensitivity, 59.5%; specificity, 80%). Conclusions This study supports the significance of HU values from chest CT for BMD assessment. Chest CT provides a new method for clinical opportunistic screening of osteoporosis. When the T11 HU is >146.7 or the T12 HU is >135.7, additional osteoporosis testing is not needed unless a vertebral fracture is detected. If the T11 HU is <105.1 or the T12 HU is <85.7, further DXA testing is strongly advised. In addition, vertebral HU values that fall faster than those of the T11 and L1 vertebrae may explain the high incidence of T12 vertebral fractures.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor with poor prognosis and high mortality. In this study, we demonstrated a novel vaccine targeting HCC and tumor neovascular endothelial cells by fusing recombinant MHCC97H cells expressing porcine α-1,3-galactose epitopes (αGal) and endorphin extracellular domains (END) with dendritic cells (DCs) from healthy volunteers. END⁺/Gal⁺-MHCC97H/DC fusion cells induced cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and secretion of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). CTLs targeted cells expressing αGal and END and tumor angiogenesis. The fused cell vaccine can effectively inhibit tumor growth and prolong the survival time of human hepatoma mice, indicating the high clinical potential of this new cell based vaccine.

In recent years, genetic analysis technology has been widely used in diagnosis of complex and difficult disease, neonatal and high-risk population disease screening, pre-implantation diagnosis, risk assessment of genetic disease recurrence and gene therapy.Clinicians need to better understand the purpose and timing of using genetic analysis technology, only understand the advantages and limitations of these technologies, the genetic analysis technology can be truly applied to clinical practice, it is helpful to improve the ability and level of diagnosis and treatment of here-ditary diseases.

Certification ; Laboratories

Hypoglycemia is a common metabolic disorder in children,and its incidence is about 10％.Among them,the incidence of hereditary related diseases is about 1/30 000-10/30 000.More and more genetic diseases leading to hypoglycemia have been discovered in recent years.Children with the disease may have mild nervous system damage at the earliest stage,and liver encephalopathy,respiratory failure,confusion or even death in severe cases.Therefore,more and more attention has been paid to the study of hypoglycemia related genetic diseases,but the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of hypoglycemia has not yet formed an unified consensus.Now,the diagnosis and treatment of this kind of related diseases were summarized in order to provide data for clinical practice.

Objective By using array-based single nucleotide polymorphisms comparative genomic hybridization (SNP-aCGH) to detect and fine mapping copy number variations (CNVs) in children with unexplained mental retardation/brain development delay(MR/BD),then the CNVs were analyzed to determine diagnosis and offer genetic counseling,finally to discuss the application of SNP-aCGH in genetic diagnosis of MR/BD with unknown causes.Methods Ninety-two children with unexplained MR/BD were recruited.SNP-aCGH was used to get CNVs from the whole genome-wide,and the correlation of CNVs and phenotype was analyzed to definit disease genes or pathogenic fragment.Statistics was performed to analyze the common phenotype between positive cases (case with CNVs) and negative cases.Results (1) The CNVs were detected in 10 cases with a detection rate of 10.86％,from which 8 cases showed subtelomeric aberration,5 cases without subtelomeric aberration,and the rate was 8.70％,5.40％,respectively.The CNVs related to MR/BD involved 10 different subtelomeric regions (9p,21q,3p,2p,15q,4p,12p,22q,16p,17p),and 7 different regions without subtelomeric (1p,4q,2p,14q,15q,12q,22q).The deletions involved 11 zones (size:1.05-8.80 Mb),and duplications referred to 8 zones (size:1.33-31.25 Mb).(2) One case was diagnosed as 9p duplication syndrome,for candidate genes:DOCK8,VLDLR.A case was detected with a gene fracture (CRBN).One case was diagnosed as Coffin-Sirrs syndrome combined with a deletion of 15q26.3-qter,for candidate genes:SOX11 and LINS1,respectively.One case referred to 12p13.3 deletion syndrome,for candidate genes:ELKS,ERC1.One case referred to 22q13.2-qter deletion,for candidate genes:SHANK3.Two cases were diagnosed as ATR-16 syndrome with 17p13.3 deletion syndrome,their candidate genes:HBA1,HBA2,SOX8 for the former,YWHAE,LIS1 for the latter.(3)There were statistically significant differences in comparison of positive cases to the negative ones for growth delay,internal organs deformity,low birth weight infant(LBW) and premature infant (all P ＜0.05).Conclusions (1) Besides MR/BD in different degrees in all the positive cases,they also showed growth delay,a portion of them with internal organs deformity,low birth weight infant and premature infant.(2) Subtelomeric aberrations are related to MR/BD,while the submicroscopic rearrangement in regions without subtelomeric is suspiciously pathogenic,and need to be further studied.(3) SNP-aCGH can fine mapping the region of CNVs by high resolution from the whole genome-wide,which does contribute to limit the zones for finding pathogenic region and candidate genes,as well as to offer a technology platform for investigating about the correlation of phenotype and genes or CNVs.

Maternal phenylketonuria(MPKU) is a syndrome caused by high phenylalanine concentrations in serum of pregnant women with phenylketonuria.MPKU results in neonatal microcephaly,facial dysmorphism,congenital heart defects,mental retardation,intrauterine growth restriction,behavior and emotional problems.To control serum Phe level of pregnant phenylketonuria women and maintain Phe concentration between 120 to 360μmol/L will prevent offspring poor outcomes such as intellectual disabilities and microcephaly.Three level interventions are best ways in MPKU management.

Objective To analyze the genotype-phenotype correlations of Angelman syndrome ( AS ) , and to discuss the advantage of applying array-based single nucleotide polymorphisms comparative genomic hybridization ( SNP aCGH) in diagnosis of AS. Methods Examination of electroencephalogram( EEG) and intelligence quotient( IQ) evaluation were done for 11 cases diagnosed as AS clinically. Gesell scares were chosen as the evaluation criterion of IQ. The screening techniques was methylation polymerase chain reaction( MS-PCR) ,then SNP aCGH was used to make genetic diagnosis. Results (1)Eleven cases of AS were confirmed:1 case had UPD(uniparental disomy),10 cases were type of deletion, from which 6 cases were deletion (Ⅱ) , 4 cases were deletion (Ⅰ) . ( 2 ) The copy number variations were detected in the region of 15q11-q13,which contained genes like MKRN3,MAGEL2,NDN,SNRPN, SNURF,GABRB3,GABRA5,GABRG3,UBE3A,OCA2,ATP10A. To search online Mendelian inheritance in man,genes above were correlated with AS manifestation. (3)All cases of deletion were 3-5 standard deviation(SD) in weight and height to normal children at the same age and with the same sex,while UPD was below 1. 5 SD. Gesell scares showed that the deletion(Ⅰ) was the most serious in mental retardation,deletion(Ⅱ) was moderate,and the UPD was mild. Eight cases were hypopigmentation,and one was the UPD. EEG revealed that 1 case of deletion(Ⅰ) and the UPD were spike occasionally,another one deletion(Ⅰ) was limit EEG. The rest cases displayed slow and spike waves paroxysmal-ly,with amplitude of medium or high,2. 5-3. 0 Hz. Conclusions Not only can SNP aCGH make a diagnosis of AS but discriminate the types of genetic pathology. Since different type contributes to a diverse of clinical features and the rate of recurrence is also different,it is significant for family genetic consultation. Moreover,the technology is advantageous for the study on the pathogenesis and gene function.

Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD,OMIM# 300100) is one of the most common peroxisomal disease.It is a kind of X-linked genetic disorder.The disease is caused by mutations in the ABCD1 gene that encodes the peroxisomal membrane protein(ALDP).A defect in ALDP results in very long-chain fatty acids can not be transported from the cytosol into the peroxisome and impaired accumulation of very long chain fatty acid (VLCFA)-CoA esters in the white matter of the brain,the spinal cord and adrenal cortex.The clinical spectrum in males with X-ALD ranges from isolated adrenocortical insufficiency and slowly progressive myelopathy to devastating cerebral demyelination.Corticosteroid replacement therapy is essential and life saving treatment,bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is an option for boys and adolescents in early stages.This review focus on the genetic pathology,diagnosis and managements of patients with X-ALD and provides a guideline for clinicians.