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Our study demonstrates for the first time the expression of the full protein hTERT by AFCs and its release outside the cell mediated by EVs, indicating a new extra telomeric role for this protein. This finding represents an initial but crucial evidence for considering AFCs derived EVs as new potential sources for tissue regeneration.

BackgroundIn about one third of healthy subjects, the microscopic analysis of chromosomes reveals heteromorphisms with no clinical implications: for example changes in size of the short arm of acrocentric chromosomes. In patients with a pathological phenotype, however, a large acrocentric short arm can mask a genomic imbalance and should be investigated in more detail. We report the first case of a chromosome 22 with a large acrocentric short arm masking a partial trisomy of the distal long arm, characterized by SNP array. We suggest a possible molecular mechanism underlying the rearrangement.Case presentationWe report the case of a 15-year-old dysmorphic girl with low grade psychomotor retardation characterized by a karyotype with a large acrocentric short arm of one chromosome 22.Cytogenetic analysis revealed a normal karyotype with a very intense Q-fluorescent and large satellite on the chromosome 22 short arm. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation analysis showed a de novo partial trisomy of the 22q13.2-qter chromosome region attached to the short arm of chromosome 22. SNP-array analysis showed that the duplication was 8.5 Mb long and originated from the paternal chromosome. Haplotype analysis revealed that the two paternal copies of the distal part of chromosome 22 have the same haplotype and, therefore, both originated from the same paternal chromosome 22. A possible molecular mechanism that could explain this scenario is a break-induced replication (BIR) which is involved in non-reciprocal translocation events.ConclusionThe combined use of FISH and SNP arrays was crucial for a better understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying this rearrangement. This strategy could be applied for a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying cryptic chromosomal rearrangements.

We report on a nine years old girl born after 41 weeks of normal gestation with psychomotor retardation, speech delay and minimal dysmorphic signs: antimongolic cut eyes, small mouth, short philtrum and hypertelorism.The use of the high-resolution Affymetrix Human Mapping GeneChip 250 K NspI array allowed the characterization of a de novo 1Mb deletion on the short arm (p22) of a chromosome 8. Molecular cytogenetic-FISH with BAC probes (RP11) confirmed the deletion. The deleted region includes part of the sarcoglycan zeta (SGCZ) gene, involved in the sarcoglycan complex formation, and the microRNA 383. The deletion described in our patient falls 319 Kb upstream of the Tumor Suppressor Candidate 3 (TUSC3) gene. In this chromosomal region, a limited number of cases of overlapping deletions, of variable extensions and characterized by heterogeneous clinical phenotype, have been reported. The deleted region described in our patient is the smallest among those so far described in this region.

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