An atypical facial appearance and growth pattern in a child with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome: an intragenic deletion predicting loss of the N-terminal region of NIPBL.

Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) is a multisystem disorder with a live birth prevalence of approximately one per 15 000. Clinical diagnosis is based on a characteristic facies – low frontal hair line, short nose, triangular nasal tip, crescent shaped mouth, upturned nose, and arched eyebrows – characteristic limb defects and a distinctive pattern of growth and development. Approximately half of all classical cases of CdLS have heterozygous loss of-function mutations in the gene encoding NIPBL, a component of the cohesion-loading apparatus (Dorsett and Krantz, 2009). Herein we describe a patient with a rare intragenic deletion of NIPBL who has typical microcephaly and developmental problems but atypical growth pattern and facial features.