A novel mutation of PANK4 causes autosomal dominant congenital posterior cataract

Min Sun, Chunlin Chen, Shengping Hou, Xue Li, Huan Wang, Jiaxing Zhou, Xi Chen, Pei Liu, Aize Kijlstra, Sen Lin*, Jian Ye*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Though many mutations have been identified to be associated with the occurrence of congenital cataract, pathogenic loci in some affected families are still unknown. Clinical data and genomic DNA were collected from a four-generation Chinese family. Candidate mutations were independently verified for cosegregation in the whole pedigree. Linkage analysis showed that the disease-causing mutation was located between 1p36.21 and 1p36.33. Analysis of the whole-exome sequencing data combined with linkage analysis identified a novel pathogenic variant (g.2451906C>T) at intron 4 of Pantothenate kinase 4 (PANK4 protein, PANK4 gene) in 1p36.32|606162. This variant showed complete cosegregation with the phenotype in the pedigree. The mutation was not detected in 106 normal controls nor in 40 sporadic congenital cataract patients. The mutation was demonstrated to significantly reduce the expression of the PANK4 protein level in the blood of cataract patients than that in normal individuals by ELISA. Pank4(-/-) mice showed a cataract phenotype with increased numbers of apoptotic lens epithelial cells, fiber cell aggregation, and significant mRNA variation of crystallin family members. Thus, the association of a new entity of an autosomal dominant cataract with mutations in PANK4, which influences cell proliferation, apoptosis of lens epithelial cells, crystallin abnormalities, and fiber cell derangement, subsequently induces cataract.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)380-391
Number of pages12
JournalHuman Mutation
Volume40
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2019

Keywords

  • apoptosis
  • autosomal dominant congenital cataract
  • lens epithelial cell
  • linkage analysis
  • PANK4
  • whole-exome sequencing
  • COENZYME-A
  • KINASE
  • VARIANT
  • NEURODEGENERATION
  • AGGREGATION
  • FRAMEWORK
  • GENETICS
  • PATIENT
  • GLUCOSE
  • RETINA

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