Communication practices of parents and unaffected sibling needs in families impacted by a diagnosis of Angelman syndrome

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a rare neurodevelopmental condition affecting approximately 1 in 15,000 individuals. To date, limited research elucidates how parents communicate about AS with unaffected siblings and their needs. This study aimed to understand if, when, and what parents are communicating with unaffected siblings. The study also evaluated unaffected siblings' knowledge of AS and their perceptions of their siblings with AS. Recruitment took place through social media platforms and a multidisciplinary Chromosome 15 clinic. Families were eligible for the study if they had a child diagnosed with AS and at least one unaffected sibling age five years or older. Two novel surveys, one for the parent and one for each of the unaffected siblings, were created based on a detailed literature review and input from AS professionals. Eighty-two families met the criteria and completed the required surveys. The majority of parents (94%) discussed AS with the unaffected siblings, but despite these discussions 41% of unaffected siblings still had unanswered questions. This study highlights the need for improved communication between parents and the unaffected siblings and emphasizes the importance of educational materials for unaffected siblings.

MYT1L-associated neurodevelopmental disorder: description of 40 new cases and literature review of clinical and molecular aspects

Pathogenic variants of the myelin transcription factor-1 like (MYT1L) gene include heterozygous missense, truncating variants and 2p25.3 microdeletions and cause a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder (OMIM#616,521). Despite enrichment in de novo mutations in several developmental disorders and autism studies, the data on clinical characteristics and genotype-phenotype correlations are scarce, with only 22 patients with single nucleotide pathogenic variants reported. We aimed to further characterize this disorder at both the clinical and molecular levels by gathering a large series of patients with MYT1L-associated neurodevelopmental disorder. We collected genetic information on 40 unreported patients with likely pathogenic/pathogenic MYT1L variants and performed a comprehensive review of published data (total = 62 patients). We confirm that the main phenotypic features of the MYT1L-related disorder are developmental delay with language delay (95%), intellectual disability (ID, 70%), overweight or obesity (58%), behavioral disorders (98%) and epilepsy (23%). We highlight novel clinical characteristics, such as learning disabilities without ID (30%) and feeding difficulties during infancy (18%). We further describe the varied dysmorphic features (67%) and present the changes in weight over time of 27 patients. We show that patients harboring highly clustered missense variants in the 2-3-ZNF domains are not clinically distinguishable from patients with truncating variants. We provide an updated overview of clinical and genetic data of the MYT1L-associated neurodevelopmental disorder, hence improving diagnosis and clinical management of these patients.