Efficient molecular diagnostic strategy for ABCC6 in pseudoxanthoma elasticum.

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a hereditary disorder of connective tissue with skin, cardiovascular, and visual involvement. In familial cases, PXE usually segregates in an autosomal recessive fashion. The aim of this manuscript is to describe an efficient strategy for DNA diagnosis of PXE. The two most frequent mutations, R1141X and an ABCC6 del exons 23-29, as well as a core set of mutations, were identified by restriction enzyme digestion and size separation on agarose gels. Next, in the remaining patient group in which only one or no mutant allele was found, the complete coding sequence was analyzed using denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (dHPLC). All variations found were confirmed by direct DNA sequencing. Finally, Southern blot was used to investigate the potential presence of small or large deletions. Twenty different mutations, including two novel mutations in the ABCC6 gene, were identified in 80.3% of the 76 patients, and 58.6% of the 152 ABCC6 alleles analyzed. With this strategy, 70 (78.7%) out of 89 mutant alleles could be detected within a week. We conclude that this strategy leads to both reliable and time-saving screening for mutations in the ABCC6 gene in sporadic cases and in families with PXE.

Analysis of the frequent R1141X mutation in the ABCC6 gene in pseudoxanthoma elasticum.

PURPOSE: To characterize the ABCC6 R1141X nonsense mutation, which is implicated in more than 25% of a cohort of patients from The Netherlands with pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE). METHODS: A combination of single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP), PCR, sequencing, and Southern blot analysis was used to identify mutations in the ABCC6 gene in 62 patients. Haplotypes of 16 patients with the R1141X mutation were determined with eight polymorphic markers spanning the ABCC6 locus. The effect of the R1141X mutation on the expression of ABCC6 was studied in leukocytes and cultured dermal fibroblasts from affected skin in patients heterozygous or homozygous for the R1141X mutation. ABCC6 expression was analyzed by RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry with ABCC6-specific monoclonal antibodies. RESULTS: The ABCC6 R1141X mutation was found on 19 alleles in 16 patients with PXE and occurred in heterozygous, homozygous, or compound heterozygous form. All R1141X alleles were associated with a common haplotype, covering at least three intragenic ABCC6 markers. None of the patients or healthy control subjects had a similar ABCC6 haplotype. Furthermore, the results showed that the expression of the normal allele in R1141X heterozygotes was predominant, whereas no detectable, or very low, ABCC6 mRNA levels were found in R1141X homozygotes. Immunocytochemical staining of cultured dermal fibroblasts with ABCC6-specific monoclonal antibodies showed no evidence of the presence of a truncated protein in patients with PXE who were homozygous for R1141X. CONCLUSIONS: A specific founder effect for the R1141X mutation exists in Dutch patients with PXE. The R1141X mutation induces instability of the aberrant mRNA. Functional haploinsufficiency or loss of function of ABCC6 caused by mechanisms, such as nonsense-mediated decay (NMD), may be involved in the PXE phenotype.