Abstract

BACKGROUND
Individuals carrying a heterozygous inactivating PAX8 mutation are affected by congenital hypothyroidism (CH), although heterozygous Pax8 knockout mice are not. It has remained unclear whether CH in PAX8 mutation carriers is caused by haploinsufficiency or a dominant negative mechanism.
OBJECTIVE
To report clinical and molecular findings of four novel PAX8 mutations, including one early-truncating frameshift mutation.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Four probands were CH patients. Two had family history of congenital or childhood hypothyroidism. Three probands were diagnosed in the frame of newborn screening for CH, while one had a negative result in screening but was diagnosed subsequently. Three had thyroid hypoplasia and one had a slightly small thyroid with low echogenicity. For these probands and their family members, we sequenced PAX8 using a standard PCR-based method. Pathogenicity of identified mutations was verified in vitro.
RESULTS
We found four novel heterozygous PAX8 mutations in the four probands: L16P, F20S, D46SfsX24, and R133Q. Family studies showed four additional mutation carriers, who were confirmed to have high serum TSH levels. Expression experiments revealed that three mutations (L16P, F20S, and R133Q) had defects in target DNA binding, while D46fs had protein instability that was rescued by the proteasome inhibitor MG132. All four mutations had reduced transactivation on the thyroglobulin promoter, supporting that they were inactivating mutations.
CONCLUSION
D46fs is the first PAX8 mutation with confirmed protein instability. Our clinical and in vitro findings together suggest that pure PAX8 haploinsufficiency can cause CH in humans.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Narumi S, Araki S, Hori N, Muroya K, Yamamoto Y, Asakura Y, Adachi M, Hasegawa T

Institution

Department of Pediatrics, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan. sat_naru@hotmail.com

Source

European journal of endocrinology / European Federation of Endocrine Societies 167:5 2012 Nov pg 625-32

MeSH

Adult
Blotting, Western
Cell Culture Techniques
Child
Child, Preschool
Congenital Hypothyroidism
Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay
Female
Frameshift Mutation
Haploinsufficiency
Humans
Infant
Male
Mutation
Mutation, Missense
Paired Box Transcription Factors
Plasmids
Thyroid Dysgenesis
Thyroid Gland
Transcriptional Activation
Transfection

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22898500