A unique case of Bloom syndrome with a combination of genetic hits: A lesson from trio‑based exome sequencing: A case report

Pathogenic variants affecting the BLM gene are responsible for the manifestation of extremely rare cancer-predisposing Bloom syndrome. The present study reports on a case of an infant with a congenital hypotrophy, short stature and abnormal facial appearance. Initially she was examined using a routine molecular diagnostic algorithm, including the cytogenetic analysis of her karyotype, microarray analysis and methylation-specific MLPA, however, she remained undiagnosed on a molecular level. Therefore, she and her parents were enrolled in the project of trio-based exome sequencing (ES) using Human Core Exome kit. She was revealed as a carrier of an extremely rare combination of causative sequence variants altering the BLM gene (NM_000057.4), c.1642C>T and c.2207_2212delinsTAGATTC in the compound heterozygosity, resulting in a diagnosis of Bloom syndrome. Simultaneously, a mosaic loss of heterozygosity of chromosome 11p was detected and then confirmed as a borderline imprinting center 1 hypermethylation on chromosome 11p15. The diagnosis of Bloom syndrome and mosaic copy-number neutral loss of heterozygosity of chromosome 11p increases a lifetime risk to develop any types of malignancy. This case demonstrates the trio-based ES as a complex approach for the molecular diagnostics of rare pediatric diseases.