Prenatal diagnosis and genetic counseling of a de novo 10q11.22q11.23 duplication associated with a normal development at 12 months of age.

Background

Copy number variants are an important source of genomic variations, ranging from pathogenic to benign. The 10q11.22q11.23 region contains complex low-copy repeats that predispose to recurrent deletions and duplications via nonallelic homologous recombination. While some reports associate duplications of this region with developmental delay, intellectual disability, and autism spectrum disorders, emerging evidence suggests that such duplications may also be observed in phenotypically normal individuals, indicating incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity. CASE PRESENTATION A 35-year-old pregnant woman with an unremarkable obstetric history underwent amniocentesis at 20 weeks of gestation. Conventional karyotyping and copy number variation sequencing (CNV-seq) were performed. CNV-seq revealed a de novo 4.56 Mb duplication at 10q11.22q11.23. The duplication was classified as a variant of uncertain significance. After extensive genetic counseling, the parents elected to continue the pregnancy. At 40 weeks of gestation, a female infant was delivered by cesarean section with normal birth parameters. A comprehensive physical examination at birth revealed no abnormalities. At the 12-month follow-up, the infant demonstrated normal growth parameters and age-appropriate neurodevelopmental milestones, with no evidence of dysmorphic features, developmental delay, or other clinical concerns.

Conclusion

This report describes a prenatal case of a de novo 10q11.22q11.23 duplication with a normal development at 12 months of age. Our findings contribute to the growing body of literature suggesting that duplications in this pericentromeric region may exhibit incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity, and in some cases, may represent benign familial or de novo variants without apparent clinical consequences.