LAUSR

Background Fetal cells collected from the amniotic fluid of two pregnant women indicated sex chromosome abnormalities. Therefore, we performed G-banded chromosome karyotype analysis, single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP array), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and sequence-tagged sites (STS) analysis of the Y chromosome to determine the rare molecular genetics of the two fetuses. Case presentation The karyotypes of the fetuses from patients 1 and 2 were mos 45,X[92]/46,X,+idic(Y)(q11.21)[8] and mos 45,X[20]/46,X,+idic(Y)(q11.223)[80], respectively. Fetus 1 had a 7.76 Mb deletion in Yq11.222q11.23 and a 15.68 Mb duplication in Yp11.2q11.21. Fetus 2 had 21 Mb of repetitive segments in Yp11.3q11.223. Azoospermia factor (AZF) detection by STS analysis revealed a missing AZFb+c region in fetus 1 and three functional AZF regions in fetus 2. The isodicentric Y chromosome (idic (Y)) in both fetuses arose de novo. The pregnancy of patient 1 was terminated, whereas the fetus of patient 2 was delivered and is now 10 months old with normal appearance and growth. Conclusion A combination of technologies such as chromosome karyotyping, FISH, SNP arrays, and STS analysis of the Y chromosome is important in prenatal diagnosis to reduce birth defect rates and improve the health of the Chinese population.