Wilson-Turner Syndrome

Wilson-Turner syndrome (WTS) is a very rare X-linked multisystem genetic disease characterized by intellectual disability, truncal obesity, gynecomastia, hypogonadism, dysmorphic facial features, and short stature.

Epidemiology

Prevalence of WTS is not known. The syndrome has been described in two families to date: 14 males in the 3 most recent generations of the first family, and 7 males and 7 females in a 5-generation Dutch family.

Clinical description

Affected males were described as having severe intellectual disability, truncal obesity, gynecomastia, hypogonadism, short stature (in the second family), small hands and feet, tapering fingers and facial dysmorphism including a small head, short ears, prominent supraorbital ridges, deep-set eyes, high malae, broad nasal tip, thin upper vermillion, and retrognathia. In obligate female carriers in the second family, a milder phenotype including learning disorders and recognizable facial features was reported. The described phenotype overlaps with Börjeson-Forssman-Lehmann syndrome, a form of X-linked intellectual disability. Differences between the two described families are small, but there is a possibility that they represent different clinical entities.

Etiology

The syndrome has been linked to a mutation in the consensus donor splice site of the histonedeacetylase 8 HDAC8 gene (Xq13).

Genetic counseling

X-linked recessive transmission and X-linked dominant inheritance with absence of male-to-male transmission have been reported.