Wall paintings facies and their possible genetic correlates in the ancient Pompeii: A bio-anthropologic message from the past?

Literature review: Genetic conditions or anomalies in artworks

This is a literature review of publications describing artworks that include depictions of individuals with suspected genetic conditions or congenital anomalies. Types of artwork described in the identified papers included drawings, paintings, sculptures, carvings, or pottery. The papers included in this review consisted of general reviews, reviews of depictions of specific conditions, reviews of individual artists who had portrayed subjects with genetic conditions or anomalies, and artwork that generated discussions on possible diagnoses. Papers describing a single work were not included in this review.

Neurocutaneous syndromes in art and antiquities

Neurocutaneous syndromes are a group of genetic disorders affecting the skin, the central and peripheral nervous system, and the eye with congenital abnormalities and/or tumors. Manifestations may also involve the heart, vessels, lungs, kidneys, endocrine glands and bones. When people with these disorders are portrayed in works of art, physicians have speculated on possible diagnoses. In particular, many figures have been labeled as possibly having a neurocutaneous disorder, sometimes distorting the popular conception of these diseases. We review numerous documents, drawings, prints, lithographs, xylographs, and portraits which span the ages from antiquity to the era of the pioneers behind the eponyms, depicting a large spectrum of neurocutaneous disorders.

Multisystem Involvement in a Patient with a PTCH1 Mutation: Clinical and Imaging Findings

In this article, we report on a Brazilian female patient born to consanguineous parents and presenting with alobar holoprosencephaly, severe eye involvement, and unusual skin hyperpigmented lesions. She was found to have a mutation (c.2240T > C; p.Val751Gly) in exon 15 of the PTCH1 gene. Mutations in this gene are associated with the nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS, OMIM 109400) and, in other instances, with holoprosencephaly (holoprosencephaly-7, OMIM 610828). Severe eye involvement ranging from orbital coloboma to microphthalmia has been seldom reported in patients with NBCCS with PTCH1 mutations. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an individual with central nervous system, skin, and eye manifestations due to a PTCH1 mutation. Mechanisms involved in these multisystem manifestations are discussed.