Distal 10q trisomy with copy number gain in chromosome region 10q23.1–10q25.1: the Wnt signaling pathway is the most pertinent to the gene content in the region of copy number gain: a case report

BACKGROUND: Complete or partial trisomy 10q involves a duplication of 10q, or the long arm of chromosome 10. Distal 10q trisomy is a well-recognized and defined but rare genetic syndrome in which duplication of distal segments of 10q results in a pattern of malformations. Although abnormal chromosome phenotypes are commonly detected by visualization of chromosomes by traditional cytogenetic techniques, this approach is marginal in both diagnostic sensitivity and potential for biological interpretation, thus making implementation of advanced techniques and analysis methods an important consideration in a health service. CASE PRESENTATION: The present study describes the case of a Taiwanese boy from healthy parents with mental, growth, and psychomotor retardations. Additional clinical features included facial dysmorphism, microcephaly, brain atrophy, camptodactyly, and—as the first reported case—bilateral renal atrophy with chronic kidney disease stage 2 and the presence of a renal cyst in one kidney. A novel 21.8 Mb copy number variation region in chromosome region 10q23.1–10q25.1 was verified by array-comparative genomic hybridization in combination with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Subsequently, 200 protein-coding genes were identified in this copy number variation region and analyzed for their biological meaning using the database for annotation, visualization and integrated discovery. CONCLUSION: According to the result of gene functional enrichment analysis using database for annotation, visualization and integrated discovery, the Wnt signaling pathway is the most pertinent to the gene content in the copy number variation region. A change in the expression levels of some Wnt signaling pathway components and of NFKB2 and PTEN genes due to a gain in their gene copy number may be associated with the patient’s clinical outcomes including brain atrophy, bilateral renal atrophy with chronic kidney disease stage 2, a renal cyst in one kidney, and growth retardation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1213-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.