Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To characterize a complex chromosome rearrangement (CCR) previously detected by G-banding in peripheral blood lymphocytes, as 46,X,-2,-11,-22,-X,+mar 1+mar2+mar3+mar4 in a patient with primary amenorrhea.

DESIGN: Case report.

SETTING: University faculty of Medicine and hospital.

PATIENT(S): A 36-year-old woman with primary amenorrhea.

INTERVENTION(S): Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Use of commercially available M-FISH probe (24 colors simultaneously) and whole chromosome painting probes for chromosomes 2, 11, 22, and X to characterize the CCR.

RESULT(S): The use of conventional and multiple FISH allowed the redefinition of the CCR, showing a cryptic insertion of chromosome 11 in marker 3 previously suspected by M-FISH. The combination of G-banding and FISH data revealed that four chromosomes and seven breakpoints, including 2q21, 2q31, 11q22.1, 11q22.3, 22q13.3, Xp11.21, and Xq24, were implicated in this CCR.

CONCLUSION(S): This report confirms the importance of a combination of G-banding and FISH (M-FISH and conventional FISH) techniques to characterize the de novo CCR. These techniques also were useful in defining two possible critical chromosome regions, Xp11.21 and Xq24, in which genes of potential interest for a primary amenorrhea could be located.