[Genetic, clinical and molecular analysis of a family affected by amelogenesis imperfecta].

BACKGROUND Amelogenesis Imperfecta (AI) is a group of conditions where there is an abnormal formation of enamel in terms of quantity, structure and composition. AI is clinically and genetically heterogeneous, there are sex linked and autosomal versions, dominant and/or recessive, with phenotypes of hypoplastic, hypocalcified or hypomature enamel. Only recently, through clinical, genetic and molecular studies of affected families, phenotypic-genotypic correlations are being established in this group of anomalies. AIM To carry out a genetic, clinical and molecular analysis of a Chilean family affected with an enamel malformation, which probably would correspond to Amelogenesis Imperfecta Dominant Autosomal (AIDA), of hypoplastic type, resulting from g.6395G>A mutation in the enamelin gene. PATIENTS AND METHODS A genealogical pattern was created for five generations. Five members of this family group were clinically examined, and four of them had a molecular analysis that consisted of the detection of a mutation in the enamelin gene using PCR. RESULTS In this family, the enamel malformation presents a dominant autosomal pattern of inheritance. The clinical examination of the group allowed a diagnosis of Amelogenesis Imperfecta, of the hypoplastic local type. However, the molecular analysis revealed that the members analyzed did not exhibit the g.6395G>A mutation reported for the enamelin gene (ENAM). CONCLUSIONS The enamel phenotype in this family could be explained by the presence of one of four other mutations recently described in this or another gene, thereby supporting the findings of allelic heterogeneity reported in the literature.