CHROMOSOME 22Q11.2 INTERSTITIAL DELETIONS AMONG CHILDHOOD-ONSET SCHIZOPHRENICS AND MULTIDIMENSIONALLY IMPAIRED

Since its first description almost a century ago schizophrenia with ch ildhood onset, a rare yet devastating disorder, has been diagnosed in children as young as age 5, Recently, the velocardiofacial syndrome, w hose underlying cause is interstitial deletions of 22q11.2, was found in 2 of 100 cases of schizophrenics with adult onset [Karayiorgou et a l., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92:7612-7616, 1995]. No study has documente d the prevalence of velocardiofacial syndrome and the 22q11.2 deletion in a population of schizophrenics with childhood onset, Here we descr ibe the result of such a study in a sample originally selected for a t rial of atypical antipsychotic drugs, A separate group of patients was also included in the study; they can best be accounted for as a varia nt of childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) and had been provisionally t ermed ''multidimensionally impaired.'' Fluorescent in situ hybridizati on screening of 32 COS and 21 multidimensionally impaired patients rev ealed 1 COS patient with an interstitial deletion spanning at least 2. 5 megabases. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.