Clinical and Molecular Characterization of a Family with Autosomal Recessive Cornea Plana
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OPHTHALMIC MOLECULAR GENETICS SECTION EDITOR: JANEY L. WIGGS, MD, PhD Clinical and Molecular Characterization of a Family With Autosomal Recessive Cornea Plana Neil D. Ebenezer, PhD; Chetankumar B. Patel, MD; Seenu M. Hariprasad, MD; Li L. Chen, MD, PhD; Reshma J. Patel, PhD; Alison J. Hardcastle, PhD; Richard C. Allen, MD, PhD Background: Autosomal recessive cornea plana is char- to the corneal endothelium. Affected individuals were ho- acterized by a flattened corneal surface associated with hy- mozygous for a novel mutation in KERA. The sequence peropia and various anterior segment abnormalities. Mu- change was found in exon 2, which results in an aspara- tations have been detected in the keratocan gene (KERA), gine to aspartic acid change at codon 131. This amino a member of the small leucine-rich proteoglycan family. acid change occurs within a highly conserved leucine- rich repeat of keratocan. Objective: To clinically and molecularly characterize a consanguineous family of Hispanic origin in which 3 Conclusions: The cause of disease in this family is likely individuals are affected with cornea plana. to be a mutation in exon 2 of KERA. Other mutations in KERA known to cause cornea plana also fall within the Methods: Clinical ophthalmic examination, including region encoding the leucine-rich repeat motifs and are corneal topography and axial eye length measurement, predicted to affect the tertiary structure of the protein. was performed on 7 family members. Molecular analy- sis of KERA was performed on DNA from each family Clinical Relevance: This is the first report of the iden- member who had been examined. tification of a mutation within KERA in a family of His- panic origin with autosomal recessive cornea plana. Al- Results: All 3 affected individuals showed extreme flat- though the vast majority of cases of cornea plana are in tening of the cornea (Ͻ36 diopters [D]), normal axial individuals of Finnish descent, this report demonstrates eye lengths, and hyperopia greater than 6.25 D (spheri- the occurrence of the disease in other populations. cal equivalent). Anterior segment abnormalities in- cluded scleralization of the cornea and central iris strands Arch Ophthalmol. 2005;123:1248-1253 ORNEA PLANA CAN BE IN- Autosomal dominant cornea plana herited as either a milder, (CNA1) has been described in a Cuban fam- autosomal dominant ily. The gene responsible for CNA1 was disease (CNA1; Mende- mapped by linkage analysis in this family lian Inheritance of Man to a region on chromosome 12, which in- 121400)C or as a more severe, autosomal cluded the locus causing CNA2. This sug- recessive form (CNA2; Mendelian Inher- gested that CNA1 and CNA2 may be alle- itance of Man 217300). The CNA2 form lic.4 However, linkage analysis on 2 Finnish is a rare disorder in which the curvature families with CNA1 excluded the area on Author Affiliations: Division of of the cornea is flattened, resulting in a de- chromosome 12 as containing the respon- Molecular Genetics, Institute of crease in the refractive power of the cor- sible gene(s) in these families, indicating that Ophthalmology, University nea.1 In addition, cornea plana is charac- there is genetic heterogeneity for the auto- College London, London, terized by a hazy corneal limbus and somal dominant form of this dystrophy.5 England (Drs Ebenezer, Chen, peripheral scleralization of the cornea, of- Pellegata et al6 identified mutations R. J. Patel, and Hardcastle); and ten with deep central corneal opacities. within the keratocan gene (KERA; Men- Cullen Eye Institute, Baylor Tahvanainen et al2 reported the initial link- delian Inheritance of Man 603288) that College of Medicine, Houston, age of CNA2 to a 10-centimorgan (CM) were responsible for causing CNA2, and Tex (Drs C. B. Patel, interval on chromosome 12q22 in a Finn- they showed that the large number of Hariprasad, and Allen). Dr Allen is now with the ish pedigree. Linkage disequilibrium map- CNA2 cases previously reported in the Department of Ophthalmology ping on 32 Finnish families showed an al- Finnish population were owing to a and Visual Sciences, University lelic association between the polymorphic founder effect. More recently, a novel mu- of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, marker D12S351 and CNA2, allowing the tation was identified in exon 2 of KERA Iowa City. disease interval to be refined to 1 cM.3 in a Bangladeshi family with both CNA2 (REPRINTED) ARCH OPHTHALMOL / VOL 123, SEP 2005 WWW.ARCHOPHTHALMOL.COM 1248 ©2005 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Downloaded From: https://jamanetwork.com/ on 10/02/2021 12 I 1 2 3 4 II 1 2 III A/G A/G 12345 IV G G G A/G A/G Figure 1. Pedigree structure and electropherograms showing segregation of autosomal recessive cornea plana. The structure of the family is a consanguineous marriage with 5 children. Open circles indicate unaffected females; solid circles, affected females; open squares, unaffected males; and solid squares, affected males. Electropherograms show the sequence from a portion of exon 2 of the keratocan gene that has a mutation. The traces are green, adenine (A); blue, cytosine (C); black, guanine (G); and red, thymidine (T). Affected individuals IV:1, IV:2, and IV:3 are homozygous for an A to G base pair substitution in exon 2 of the keratocan gene (A391G). The father (III:1) and the mother (III:2) are heterozygous (A/G) for the mutation, as are unaffected siblings IV:4 and IV:5. and a mild form of microphthalmia.7 No mutations in ined clinically and molecular analysis was performed on KERA have been reported in CNA1 families. their DNA. A novel nucleic acid change was found in The core protein of a major corneal keratan sulfate pro- KERA that results in an amino acid change in a highly teoglycan is encoded by KERA. Although KERA is abun- conserved portion of the LRR motif of the protein. This dantly expressed in the cornea and sclera, it is ex- study contributes additional support to the occurrence pressed at lower levels in skin, ligament, cartilage, arteries, of CNA2 in individuals with no Finnish ancestry. and striated muscles.8,9 The gene spans 7.65 kilobases of genomic DNA, consists of 3 exons with complementary METHODS DNA of 2160 base pairs (bp), and encodes a protein of 352 amino acids. Exon 1 is untranslated while exon 2 PATIENTS contains the start codon and an N-terminal signal pep- tide followed by a highly conserved region containing 10 A 4-generation, consanguineous, Hispanic pedigree from north- leucine-rich repeat (LRR) motifs. ern Mexico (Figure 1) in which 3 of the 5 children were af- In this study, we investigated a consanguineous fam- fected with cornea plana was ascertained for a genetic study ily of Hispanic origin in which 3 individuals are affected that conformed to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. A with cornea plana. Seven family members were exam- full ophthalmic examination was performed on all 7 family mem- (REPRINTED) ARCH OPHTHALMOL / VOL 123, SEP 2005 WWW.ARCHOPHTHALMOL.COM 1249 ©2005 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Downloaded From: https://jamanetwork.com/ on 10/02/2021 Table. Primer Sequences and Conditions Used to Amplify the Coding Region of the Keratocan Gene Exon No. Sequence (Forward) Sequence (Reverse) Ta (°C) Amplimer (bp) 1 tggtgactgggacgagtagg ctttttcagaatagggttttgg 61 273 2a tgttgacatatttcacctcttcc agggctcctttttcaattcc 59 477 2b ctgtaggtgctataatggcagg gggtcaggttctccagattg 58 522 2c ctcatgcagctaaacatggc gatcaaggtgaaggtgctgc 59 292 3 ttgggggaaacagatagg gaaaatggtggccgagagc 59 463 Abbreviations: bp, base pair; T a, annealing temperature. bers from the third and fourth generations and included the cornea in each eye with many central and peripheral iris following: cycloplegic refraction, slitlamp examination, intra- strands to the cornea resulting in corectopia (Figure 2A). ocular pressure measurement, optic disc assessment, corneal The patient’s corneas were too irregular for the Hum- topography, and A-scan ultrasonography to determine axial phrey machine to measure. Keratometer readings were length. less than 36 D in each eye. Axial lengths were 26.54 mm OD and 25.05 mm OS. DNA ANALYSIS Case IV:3 Blood specimens were obtained from all family members who were examined, and genomic DNA was extracted from periph- The third and last affected child was an 8-year-old girl. eral blood leukocytes using the Nucleon II kit (Scotlab Lim- ited, Strathclyde, Scotland) according to the manufacturer’s in- Her best-corrected visual acuity was 20/50 OU. Cyclople- gic refraction was ϩ6.00ϩ 2.25ϫ 065 OD and structions. Polymerase chain reaction amplification of KERA ϩ ϩ ϫ was performed using intronic oligonucleotide primers (Table) 8.50 1.75 095 OS. Extraocular motility, confron- to amplify the coding region. Because exon 2 is 893 bp long, it tation fields, pupillary reaction, intraocular pressures, and was amplified in 3 overlapping segments. The purified poly- fundus examination results were normal. Slitlamp ex- merase chain reaction samples were sequenced bidirection- amination revealed peripheral scleralization of the cor- ally on an automated sequencer (ABI 3100; Applied Biosys- nea in each eye with no iris strands in the right eye but tems, Foster City, Calif) using the ABI Prism Ready Reaction with a few iris strands to the cornea in the left eye Dye Terminator cycle sequencing kit (FS kit; Applied Biosys- (Figure 2B). Humphrey topography results (Figure 2C) tems) following the manufacturer’s protocol. showed simulated keratometric readings of OD 31.50 D at 30°, OD 33.75 D at 120°, OS 26.62 D at 160°, and OS RESULTS 33.50 D at 70°. Axial lengths were 23.33 mm OD and 23.55 mm OS. CLINICAL ANALYSIS Cases III:1, III:2, IV:4, and IV:5 Case IV:1 Individuals III:1, III:2, IV:4, and IV:5 all had normal oph- The first affected child was a 12-year-old girl who had a thalmic examination results (Figure 2D).