ORIGINAL ARTICLES

A new nonsense mutation of SMAD8 associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension

M Shintani^1,2, H Yagi¹, T Nakayama³, T Saji³, R Matsuoka^1,2,4

¹ International Research and Educational Institute for Integrated Medical Sciences (IREIIMS), Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
² Division of Genomic Medicine, Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
³ Department of Pediatrics, Toho University Medical Center, Omori Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
⁴ Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Tokyo, Japan

Dr R Matsuoka, International Research and Educational Institute for Integrated Medical Sciences (IREIIMS), Tokyo Women’s Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8666, Japan; rumiko{at}imcir.twmu.ac.jp

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disorder characterised by raised pulmonary artery pressures with pathological changes in small pulmonary arteries. Previous studies have shown that approximately 70% of familial PAH and also 11–40% of idiopathic PAH (IPAH) cases have mutations in the bone morphogenetic protein receptor type II (BMPR2) gene. In addition, mutations in the activin receptor-like kinase 1 (ALK1) gene have been reported in PAH patients. Since both the BMPR2 and ALK1 belonging to the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β superfamily are known to predispose to PAH, mutations in other genes of the TGF-β/BMP signalling pathways may also predispose to PAH.

Methods: We screened for mutations in ENDOGLIN(ENG), SMAD1, SMAD2, SMAD3, SMAD4, SMAD5, SMAD6 and SMAD8 genes, which are involved in the TGF-β/BMP signallings, in 23 patients with IPAH who had no mutations in BMPR2 or ALK1.

Results: A nonsense mutation in SMAD8 designated c.606 C>A, p.C202X was identified in one patient. The father of this patient was also identified as having the same mutation. Functional analysis showed the truncated form of the SMAD8 C202X protein was not phosphorylated by constitutively active ALK3 and ALK1. The SMAD8 mutant was also unable to interact with SMAD4. The response to BMP was analysed using promoter-reporter activities with SMAD4 and/or ca-ALK3. The transcriptional activation of the SMAD8 mutant was inefficient compared with the SMAD8 wild type.

Conclusion: We describe the first mutation in SMAD8 in a patient with IPAH. Our findings suggest the involvement of SMAD8 in the pathogenesis of PAH.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Huang, Z., Wang, D., Ihida-Stansbury, K., Jones, P. L., Martin, J. F. (2009). Defective pulmonary vascular remodeling in Smad8 mutant mice. Hum Mol Genet 18: 2791-2801 [Abstract] [Full Text]