A Spectrum of LMX1B Mutations in Nail-Patella Syndrome
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ARTICLE A spectrum of LMX1B mutations in Nail-Patella syndrome: New point mutations, deletion, and evidence of mosaicism in unaffected parents Monica Marini, PhD1, Renata Bocciardi, PhD1, Stefania Gimelli, MS2, Marco Di Duca3, Maria T. Divizia, MD1, Anwar Baban, MD1, Harald Gaspar, MD4, Isabella Mammi, MD5, Livia Garavelli, MD6, Roberto Cerone, MD7, Francesco Emma, MD8, Maria F. Bedeschi, MD9, Romano Tenconi, MD10, Alberto Sensi, MD11, Andrea Salmaggi, MD12, Mario Bengala, MD13, Francesca Mari, MD14, Gianluca Colussi, MD15, Krzysztof Szczaluba, MD16, Stylianos E. Antonarakis, MD2, Marco Seri, MD17, Margherita Lerone, MD1, and Roberto Ravazzolo, MD1,18 Purpose: Nail-Patella syndrome (MIM 161200) is a rare autosomal mosaicism in unaffected parents in two cases, which, to our knowledge, dominant disorder characterized by hypoplastic or absent patellae, dys- are the first reported cases of inheritance of a mutated LMX1B allele in trophic nails, dysplasia of the elbows, and iliac horn. In 40% of cases, Nail-Patella syndrome patients from a mosaic parent. Conclusion: The a glomerular defect is present and, less frequently, ocular damage is study of the described case series provides some original observations observed. Inter- and intrafamilial variable expressivity of the clinical in an “old” genetic disorder. Genet Med 2010:12(7):431–439. phenotype is a common finding. Mutations in the human LMX1B gene Key Words: Nail-Patella syndrome, LMX1B gene, mutation, deletion, have been demonstrated to be responsible for Nail-Patella syndrome in mosaicism around 80% of cases. Methods: Standard polymerase chain reaction and sequencing methods were used for mutation and single nucleotide polymorphism identification and control of cloned sequences. Array- ail-Patella syndrome (NPS), or hereditary onycho-osteodys- CGH (Agilent, 244A Kit) was used for detection of deletions. Standard Nplasia (MIM 161200), is a rare autosomal dominant disorder, cloning techniques and the Snapshot method were used for analysis of first reported by Little1 in 1897, characterized by hypoplastic or mosaicism. Results: In this study, we present the results of LMX1B absent patellae, dystrophic nails, dysplasia of the elbows, and iliac screening of 20 Nail-Patella syndrome patients. The molecular defect horn. In the skeletal system, tendons, ligaments, and muscles as ϳ was found in 17 patients. We report five novel mutations and a 2Mb well as bones can be affected.2 Ophthalmologic abnormalities deletion in chromosome 9q encompassing the entire LMX1B gene in a include increased ocular pressure, glaucoma, and subsequent blind- patient with a complex phenotype. We present evidence of somatic ness. The most serious manifestation of NPS is nephropathy that can be found in 40% of patients.2,3 The earliest clinical findings are proteinuria and hematuria. Ten percent of NPS may From the 1Molecular Genetics and Cytogenetics Unit, G. Gaslini Institute, progress to nephrotic syndrome and/or end-stage renal dis- 2 Genova, Italy; Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, Univer- ease. Recent studies suggest that NPS phenotype may be sity Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; 3Laboratory of Pathophysi- ology of Uremia, G. Gaslini Institute, Genova, Italy; 4Institute of Medical more extensive than previously described including neuro- Genetics, University of Zu¨rich, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland; 5Medical Ge- logic and neurobehavioral aspects.4 netics, ULSS, Venice, Italy; 6Department of Obstetrics and Pediatrics, Clin- Most NPS cases are associated with heterozygous muta- 7 ical Genetics Unit, S. Maria Nuova Hospital, Reggio Emilia, Italy; Depart- tions in the LIM homeobox transcription factor 1 beta gene ment of Pediatrics, G. Gaslini Institute, University of Genova, Genova, Italy; 2 8Department of Nephrology and Urology, Division of Nephrology and (LMX1B, MIM 602575), a member of the LIM-homeodo- Dialysis, Bambino Gesu` Children’s Hospital and Research Institute, Rome, main family of transcription factors, that play a vital role Italy; 9Clinical Genetics Unit, Fondazione IRCCS, Ospedale Maggiore Poli- during embryo development by determining body pattern in clinico, Mangiagalli e Regina Elena, Milano, Italy; 10Department of Pediat- vertebrates and invertebrates. 11 rics, Clinical Genetics Unit, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; Depart- 5 12 The LMX1B gene is mapped on chromosome 9q34.1. It ment of Medical Genetics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy; Department of ϳ Clinical Neurosciences, C. Besta Neurology Institute, Milan, Italy; 13Laboratory consists of eight exons spanning a region of 82 kb of genomic of Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico Tor Vergata, Rome, DNA and encodes about 372 amino acid residues of protein.2 Italy; 14Medical Genetics, University of Siena, Siena, Italy; 15Division of Ne- The protein contains two zinc-binding LIM domains at the 16 phrology, Niguarda Ca’ Granda Hospital, Milan, Italy; Department of Medical 2 NH2-terminus and a DNA-binding homeodomain. Genetics, National Research Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland; 6 17Medical Genetics, Policlinico Sant’Orsola Malpighi, University of Bologna, During embryo development, LMX1B plays multiple roles. Bologna, Italy; and 18Department of Pediatrics and CEBR, University of Genoa, It is expressed in the dorsal mesenchyme of the limb bud, is Genoa, Italy. responsible for the dorsal-ventral patterning, and is essential for Roberto Ravazzolo, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, G. Gaslini Institute, the differentiation of metanephric precursor cells into podocytes Largo G. Gaslini 5, 16147 Genova, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]. and, possibly, for the maintenance of the differentiated status. Disclosure: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Moreover, LMX1B expression has also been shown during the development of the central nervous system and seems to be Submitted for publication July 21, 2009. essential for the development of serotonergic neurons. In accor- Accepted for publication April 8, 2010. dance with the expression pattern, knock-out mice for targeted Published online ahead of print June 7, 2010. inactivation of Lmx1b showed a strongly resembling phenotype DOI: 10.1097/GIM.0b013e3181e21afa for NPS with absent nails and patellae and characteristic ultra- Genetics IN Medicine • Volume 12, Number 7, July 2010 431 Marini et al. Genetics IN Medicine • Volume 12, Number 7, July 2010 structural changes of the glomerular basement membrane in the Cycle Sequencing Kit (Applied Biosystems) according to the kidneys.7 provided protocol and run on a 3130xl Genetic Analyzer (Ap- The incidence of the disease is estimated as 1 in 50,000 plied Biosytems). live births, with high penetrance and an extremely variable clinical presentation both within and among families. LMX1B reported mutations include a wide spectrum of substitutions, Mosaicism analysis small insertions/deletions and splice site mutations, concen- After observing the presence of a low intensity mutated trated within the functional domains of the protein: LIM nucleotide in the sequencing electropherogram, PCR prod- domains (LIM-A 44%, LIM-B 38%) and the homeodomain ucts of the LMX1B exon 4 obtained from the mosaic parent (18%).2,8 The most frequently recurring mutations have been of patients 4 and 19 were subcloned using the TOPO-TA found in the homeodomain (R198X, R200Q, R208X, A213P, cloning Kit (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) to verify the presence and R223X), which comprises nearly 30% of all known of two different alleles. Ten colonies were selected for each LMX1B mutations. amplimer and grown overnight in Luria-Bertani medium. So far, no evidence for locus heterogeneity has been re- Plasmids were then recovered with the IllustraTM ported. Recently, for the first time, deletions affecting the whole plasmid LMX1B gene or part of it were reported. Two deletions of the Prep Mini Spin Kit (GE Healthcare, Chalfont St. Giles, UK) whole gene and another affecting exons 3 to 8 were identified in according to the provided protocol. Plasmid DNA was se- a series of eight unrelated families with classical features of quenced by using the M13 Forward and Reverse vector primers included in the TOPO-TA cloning kit (Invitrogen) NPS.9 and the Big Dye Terminator Cycle Sequencing Kit (Applied Although it is possible that apparently negative cases actually Biosystems) as already described. The Snapshot method was carry mutations affecting regulatory regions essential for gene used according to the instructions provided by the purchasing expression either at the 5Ј end of the gene, or within introns, or company (Applied Biosystems). in the 3Ј untranslated regions, no such mutations have been so far reported as unequivocally causative. No correlation in the range of severity of NPS symptoms has been reported among patients with missense, nonsense, frame- shift, or splice mutations and those with large deletions of most Table 1 List of primers used for PCR amplification of or all the gene, strongly supporting haploinsufficiency for intronic SNPs in the LMX1B gene LMX1B as the mechanism underlying NPS.2,9 We describe here the results of LMX1B screening in a Oligo Cluster A series of NPS patients. Besides mutations already reported in Forward oligo rs34458206 the literature, we describe five previously unreported muta- tions and a deletion in chromosome 9q that includes the GGCAGACGGACTGCGCCAA rs349116246 entire LMX1B gene in a patient with a more complex phe- Reverse oligo rs2235057 notype. We describe somatic mosaicism in unaffected par-