Short stature in a girl with a terminal Xp deletion distal to DXYS15: localisation of a growth gene(s) in the pseudoautosomal region.

This report describes a Japanese girl with short stature and a rearranged X chromosome. Her height remained below the 3rd centile growth curve for Japanese girls, and her predicted adult height (148.5 cm) was below her target height (163 cm) and target range (155 to 171 cm). Cytogenetic studies showed that the rearranged X chromosome was formed by a breakage at q26 and a transfer of the Xq fragment onto the tip of Xp. The abnormal X was always late replicating. No mosaicism was detected. Molecular analysis showed an Xp terminal deletion distal to DXYS15. Biochemical and radiological studies for short stature disclosed no abnormality. On the basis of height analysis of previous reports and a genotype-phenotype correlation of this patient, we propose that a growth gene(s) is present in the distal part of the pseudoautosomal region.