Table 12.

Risk to Offspring of a Proband with Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome

Genetic Alteration Identified in the ProbandRecurrence Risk to Offspring of the Proband
Abnormal methylation at 11p15.5LOM at IC2 or GOM at IC1Likely low unless the proband is female and presents with a history of unexplained spontaneous abortion, hydatidiform moles, or a sib w/BWS or another imprinting disorder (e.g., SRS); in such cases, a homozygous or heterozygous pathogenic variant in maternal effect genes in the proband’s genome may confer a significant recurrence risk (see Differential Diagnosis, MLID).
Genomic variant involving chromosome 11p15.5; incl:
  • The recurrence risk may be as high as 50% depending on the sex of the proband and the specific alteration. Small deletions at IC1 & rarely small duplications at IC2 have been reported in familial cases. 1
  • Rare familial cases of SRS (see Genetically Related Disorders) have been reported in persons w/small 11p15.5 IC1 deletions & maternally inherited 11p15 duplications. Therefore, the offspring of a proband w/either of these genetic alterations may be at risk for SRS depending on the specific alteration & the sex of the proband.
Paternal UPD of 11p15.5Likely very low; however, empiric data are not yet available.
No underlying 11p15.5 genetic alteration identified in the probandPresumed to be low in the absence of a genomic abnormality, as the imprint normally is reset in the germline; empiric data are not yet available. 2 There remains a low risk for unidentified molecular alterations or MLID (see Differential Diagnosis, MLID).
Heterozygous CDKN1C pathogenic variantIf the proband is female, the recurrence risk for BWS in offspring is 50%.
If the proband is male, the recurrence risk for BWS in offspring is low, but there have been too few cases reported to generate a risk figure.
No BWS-causing genetic alteration identified in the proband (~20% of probands w/BWS do not have a molecular diagnosis.)The recurrence risk is likely low as the proband may have somatic mosaicism for paternal UPD. However, the risk may be increased if the proband has a pathogenic variant that is not detected by current genetic testing platforms or (in a female proband) a pathogenic variant(s) in an SCMC gene.

BWS = Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome; CNV = copy number variant; LOM = loss of methylation; MLID = multilocus imprinting disturbances; SCMC = subcortical maternal complex; SRS = Silver-Russell syndrome; UPD = uniparental disomy

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2.

From: Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome

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