A novel SHANK3 interstitial microdeletion in a family with intellectual disability and brain MRI abnormalities resembling Unidentified Bright Objects

Abstract

Background: SHANK3 mutations are responsible for Phelan-McDermid syndrome but they are also associated with autism and/or intellectual disability.

Case report: We report a family with four affected individuals including the 37 year-old mother, her 12 year-old male monozygotic twins and 8 year-old daughter harboring a novel SHANK3 interstitial microdeletion. All four members presented with intellectual disability of variable severity. The twins showed brain abnormalities similar to Unidentified Bright Objects (UBOs), typically detected in patients with Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), but they did not display causative mutations in NF1 gene.

Conclusion: To date, this is the first report of an affected individual with SHANK3 interstitial deletion able to reproduce. Moreover, we found a previously unreported possible association between SHANK3 deletion and UBOs-like lesions in the brain.

Keywords: Phelan-McDermid syndrome; SHANK3 gene; Unidentified Bright Objects.