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A nationwide survey of Schaaf-Yang syndrome in Japan

Journal of Human Genetics volume 67, pages 735–738 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Schaaf-Yang syndrome (SYS) is a congenital disorder characterized by developmental delay, autism spectrum disorder and congenital joint contractures. In this study, a nationwide epidemiological questionnaire-based survey of SYS in the Japanese population was conducted to establish patient numbers, clinical features and genetic information. In the primary survey, we investigated the number of SYS patients. In the secondary survey, we obtained and analyzed detailed clinical and genetic information of SYS patients. This survey collected information on 25 genetically-confirmed patients. The major clinical symptoms included neonatal hypotonia (96% of the patients), poor suck in infancy (82%), developmental delay (100%) and joint contractures (83%). Other main symptoms and findings included characteristic facial features (100%), small hands (92%), eye abnormalities (92%) and short stature (79%). Based on the information collected on activities of daily living, 71% of patients were unable to walk, while 67%, 71%, and 81% of patients required full assistance with eating, toileting and bathing, respectively. Regarding inheritability, the genetic analysis of 21 patients revealed that 14 (67%) carried de novo truncating variants in the melanoma antigen L2 (MAGEL2) gene and seven (33%) had inherited truncating variants from their fathers who were carriers. This survey revealed the clinical and genetic features in Japanese SYS patients. The majority of SYS patients required assistance in many aspects of daily living, and there were a certain number of carriers of the imprinting disorder.

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Acknowledgements

We deeply thank all those who participated in this survey.

Funding

This work was supported by MHLW Research on rare and intractable diseases Program Grant Number JPMH20FC1003 (YN, KK, KT, KM, TN, and?SS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Gifu Prefectural Tajimi Hospital, Tajimi, Japan

    Yutaka Negishi

  2. Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan

    Yutaka Negishi & Shinji Saitoh

  3. Division of Medical Genetics, Kanagawa Children’s Medical Center, Yokohama, Japan

    Kenji Kurosawa

  4. Center for Medical Genetics, Shinshu University Hospital, Matsumoto, Japan

    Kyoko Takano

  5. Department of Molecular Endocrinology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan

    Keiko Matsubara

  6. Department of Public Health, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan

    Takeshi Nishiyama

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  1. Yutaka Negishi
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Contributions

YN analyzed and interpreted data, and wrote the manuscript. KK, KT, KM, TN, and KN analyzed and interpreted data. SS initiated the project, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. All authors commented on and edited the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shinji Saitoh.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Negishi, Y., Kurosawa, K., Takano, K. et al. A nationwide survey of Schaaf-Yang syndrome in Japan. J Hum Genet 67, 735–738 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s10038-022-01089-y

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