ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: ADAMTS13 mutations play a role in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) pathogenesis. OBJECTIVES: To establish a phenotype-genotype correlation in a cohort of congenital TTP patients. PATIENTS/METHODS: Clinical history and ADAMTS13 activity, antigen and anti-ADAMTS13 antibody assays were used to diagnose congenital TTP, and DNA sequencing and in vitro expression were performed to identify the functional effects of the ADAMTS13 mutations responsible. RESULTS: Seventeen (11 novel) ADAMTS13 mutations were identified in 17 congenital TTP patients. All had severely reduced ADAMTS13 activity and antigen levels at presentation. Six patients with pregnancy-associated TTP and six patients with childhood TTP were homozygous or compound heterozygous for ADAMTS13 mutations located in the metalloprotease (MP), cysteine-rich, spacer and/or distal thrombospondin type 1 domains. The adults had TTP precipitated by pregnancy, and had overall higher antigen levels (median, 30 ng mL(-1) ; range, < 10-57 ng mL(-1) ) than the children (median, 14 ng mL(-1) ; range, < 10-40 ng mL(-1)). Presentation in the neonatal period was associated with more intensive treatment requirements. The two neonates with the most severe phenotype had mutations in the first thrombospondin type 1 motif of ADAMTS13 (p.R398C, p.R409W, and p.Q436H). Using transfected HEK293T cells, we have shown that p.R398C and p.R409W block ADAMTS13 secretion, whereas p.Q436H allows secretion at reduced levels. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the heterogeneity of ADAMTS13 defects and an association between ADAMTS13 genotypes and TTP phenotype.
Subject(s)
ADAM Proteins/genetics , Mutation , Purpura, Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic/genetics , ADAMTS13 Protein , Adult , Blotting, Western , Case-Control Studies , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Genotype , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Phenotype , Pregnancy , United KingdomABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is most commonly associated with deficiency or inhibition of von Willebrand factor-cleaving protease (ADAMTS-13) activity. ADAMTS-13 mutations and polymorphisms have been reported in childhood congenital TTP, but their significance in adult onset TTP remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: We sought to identify common ADAMTS-13 mutations in adults with late onset TTP and to investigate whether they may predispose acute clinical episodes of the disorder in adulthood. PATIENTS/METHODS/RESULTS: We detected a missense mutation (C3178T) in exon 24 of ADAMTS-13 in 6/53 (11.3%) adult onset TTP patients, but no normal controls (n = 100). Three of the patients had pregnancy-associated TTP; three had chronic relapsing acute idiopathic TTP. C3178T encodes an arginine to tryptophan (R1060W) substitution in the TSP1-7 domain of ADAMTS-13. In vitro expression of mutant and wild-type ADAMTS-13 demonstrated that R1060W caused severe intracellular retention of ADAMTS-13 (<5% secretion) without affecting its metalloprotease activity. One homozygous and five heterozygous patients were identified. No other causative mutations were discovered, yet all six patients had ADAMTS-13 activity levels <5% at presentation (normal: 66-126%). Antibodies/inhibitors to ADAMTS-13 were detected in three/five heterozygous patients, and all six patients had subnormal antigen levels. Six asymptomatic first-degree relatives, including those of two probands with antibodies, were also heterozygous for C3178T; all but one had subnormal ADAMTS-13 activity. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of R1060W ADAMTS-13 in adult onset TTP, together with its absence in childhood congenital TTP cases reported elsewhere, suggests it may be a factor in the development of late onset TTP.
Subject(s)
ADAM Proteins/genetics , Mutation, Missense , Point Mutation , Purpura, Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic/genetics , ADAM Proteins/deficiency , ADAM Proteins/immunology , ADAM Proteins/physiology , ADAMTS13 Protein , Adult , Age of Onset , Aged , Amino Acid Substitution , Autoantibodies/blood , Autoantibodies/immunology , Cell Line , Child, Preschool , DNA Mutational Analysis , Female , Gene Frequency , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Genotype , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Pedigree , Pregnancy , Pregnancy Complications, Hematologic/enzymology , Pregnancy Complications, Hematologic/epidemiology , Pregnancy Complications, Hematologic/genetics , Purpura, Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic/enzymology , Purpura, Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic/epidemiology , Recombinant Fusion Proteins/metabolismABSTRACT
The importance of testing for anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) in the diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) in patients with thrombosis has recently been challenged (ISTH SSC meeting, Boston 2002). We have analyzed the antiphospholipid serology of 123 patients with persistent antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) attending our hematology department. The cohort was tested for anti-beta(2)-glycoprotein I (beta(2)-GPI) antibodies and aCL of IgG and IgM class and for lupus anticoagulant (LA). Ninety-six of these patients fulfilled Sapporo clinical criteria for APS and 70 of these patients had venous and/or arterial thrombosis. Patients with LA plus anti-beta(2)-GPI antibodies had significantly higher levels of IgG aCL and anti-beta(2)-GPI antibodies than those exhibiting positivity for only LA or anti-beta(2)-GPI antibodies (P < 0.05). Patients with aCL IgG levels over 60 GPLU were found in all cases to be positive for LA and anti-beta(2)-GPI antibodies; 25.2% (31/123) of all patients and 26.04% (25/96) of patients fulfilling Sapporo clinical criteria for APS were positive for aCL only. The mean IgG aCL level in the Sapporo clinical criteria positive patients who had aCL only was 11.5 GPLU (normal < 5 GPLU). These data indicate that omission of aCL testing from the clinical investigation of APS could lead to a failure to diagnose the syndrome in a proportion of patients.
