In order to provide the best possible care to patients with a rare condition, it is essential that global knowledge about the condition is gathered. Nationwide, centers of expertise have been set up to stimulate care for rare disorders and to gather knowledge. For the formal recognition of an expertise center by the Ministry of Health, an important condition is that the expertise center gathers, analyzes and shares knowledge through publications. These can be publications in scientific journals, but also treatment guidelines for health care professionals or information brochures for patients or caregivers. We optimize care and research within ENCORE through standardized follow-up and close collaboration between doctors and researchers. That way, we can ultimately develop better treatments for rare conditions. You may therefore be asked to participate in research. Participation in research is always on a voluntary basis. The data obtained is stored and analyzed in an anonymous form. All research has been approved in advance by an ethics review committee.
Genetic testing will be performed on all Dup15q Syndrome patients seen in our center of expertise to determine the genetic cause and to be able to support and advise the parents. If genetic testing has already been done elsewhere, it will not be repeated. This genetic knowledge also helps us to better understand the effect of the genetic change ("mutation") on the severity of symptoms. We can then also investigate which treatment works best for a particular mutation. In rare cases, the genetic analysis is inconclusive. In these cases, the genetic change will be further investigated in the laboratory.
Detailed knowledge about the course of Dup15q Syndrome (which symptoms and complaints are there, and when exactly do they arise) is of great importance in order to be able to recognize complaints early and treat them optimally in the future. In addition, this is of great importance for drug research (trials). After all, only if we can demonstrate that a new drug improves the quality of life compared to an untreated patient, will the drug actually be approved and reimbursed.
Due to the recent start of our center, other clinical studies will follow. Furthermore, an international AS / Dup15q center partnership has been established to optimize clinical care and collaborate in scientific research: https://www.angelman.org/angelman-syndrome-clinics/
In addition to permission to record these clinical data, you may be asked to provide a tube of blood for research. This blood is used to generate iPSC (induced Pluripotent Stem Cells) for research. Brain cells can be grown from these iPS cells. See the pre-clinical research page on this website for more information about iPS research.
Our expertise center is currently assessing whether there is interest in participating in a new drug study. We ask parents to read this document (only in Dutch) carefully and let us know if you want to participate.
Punt AM, et.al. (2022) Molecular and behavioral consequences of Ube3a gene overdosage in mice. JCI Insight. Pubmed
van Woerden GM. (2019) Measuring Electroencephalography: The Ups and Downs of Delta and Beta Bands as Biomarkers for 15q11-q13–Related Disorders. Biol Psychiatry. e45–6. Pubmed
Elgersma Y. (2015) Neurodevelopmental disease: A molecular tightrope. Nature 526; 50–1. Pubmed
Do you have questions about research at ENCORE? Or do you want to participate? Please contact us via encore@erasmusmc.nl or Dup15q@erasmusmc.nl