Antithrombin (AT) is the major plasma inhibitor of thrombin (FIIa) and activated factor X (FXa), and antithrombin deficiency (ATD) is one of the most severe thrombophilic disorders. In this study, we ...identified nine novel AT mutations and investigated their genotype-phenotype correlations. Clinical and laboratory data from patients were collected, and the nine mutant AT proteins (p.Arg14Lys, p.Cys32Tyr, p.Arg78Gly, p.Met121Arg, p.Leu245Pro, p.Leu270Argfs*14, p.Asn450Ile, p.Gly456delins_Ala_Thr and p.Pro461Thr) were expressed in HEK293 cells; then, Western blotting, N-Glycosidase F digestion, and ELISA were used to detect wild-type and mutant AT. RT-qPCR was performed to determine the expression of AT mRNA from the transfected cells. Functional studies (AT activity in the presence and in the absence of heparin and heparin-binding studies with the surface plasmon resonance method) were carried out. Mutations were also investigated by in silico methods. Type I ATD caused by altered protein synthesis (p.Cys32Tyr, p.Leu270Argfs*14, p.Asn450Ile) or secretion disorder (p.Met121Arg, p.Leu245Pro, p.Gly456delins_Ala_Thr) was proved in six mutants, while type II heparin-binding-site ATD (p.Arg78Gly) and pleiotropic-effect ATD (p.Pro461Thr) were suggested in two mutants. Finally, the pathogenic role of p.Arg14Lys was equivocal. We provided evidence to understand the pathogenic nature of novel
mutations through in vitro expression studies.
Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT; Osler–Weber–Rendu disease) is an autosomal dominant vascular disease characterized by nosebleeds, mucocutaneous telangiectases, visceral arteriovenous ...malformations (AVM) and a first-degree relative with HHT. Diagnosis is definite if three or four criteria are present. This case report describes a 19-year-old male with incidentally detected polycythaemia and an associated soft-tissue opacity over the left lower lobe on his frontal chest radiogram. He had experienced dyspnoea on exertion since infancy and clubbing at physical examination. Polycythaemia vera, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sleep apnoea and cyanotic congenital heart disease were excluded. Chest computed tomography (CT) was initially refused by the patient, but 3 years later he presented with severe epistaxis. Considering the unvarying soft tissue mass and erythrocytosis, an HHT-associated pulmonary AVM (PAVM) was eventually confirmed by chest CT. A pathogenic family-specific ENG c.817-2 A>C mutation was detected in the patient. The large PAVM was successfully treated using AMPLATZER™ vascular plug embolization. A combination of the multisystemic nature of his symptoms, the age-related penetrance of HHT symptoms and insufficient patient compliance delayed the diagnosis of HHT in this current case.
Antithrombin (AT) is a serine protease inhibitor, its activity is highly accelerated by heparin. Mutations at the heparin-binding region lead to functional defect, type II heparin-binding site ...(IIHBS) AT deficiency. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the molecular background of AT Budapest 3 (p.Leu131Phe, ATBp3), AT Basel (p.Pro73Leu), and AT Padua (p.Arg79His) mutations. Advanced in silico methods and heparin-binding studies of recombinant AT proteins using surface plasmon resonance method were used. Crossed immunoelectrophoresis and Differential Scanning Fluorimetry (NanoDSF) were performed in plasma samples. Heparin affinity of AT Padua was the lowest (KD = 1.08 × 10
M) and had the most severe consequences affecting the allosteric pathways of activation, moreover significant destabilizing effects on AT were also observed. KD values for AT Basel, ATBp3 and wild-type AT were 7.64 × 10
M, 2.15 × 10
M and 6.4 × 10
M, respectively. Heparin-binding of AT Basel was slower, however once the complex was formed the mutation had only minor effect on the secondary and tertiary structures. Allosteric activation of ATBp3 was altered, moreover decreased thermostability in ATBp3 homozygous plasma and increased fluctuations in multiple regions of ATBp3 were observed by in silico methods suggesting the presence of a quantitative component in the pathogenicity of this mutation due to molecular instability.
A founder effect can result from the establishment of a new population by individuals from a larger population or bottleneck events. Certain alleles may be found at much higher frequencies because of ...genetic drift immediately after the founder event. We provide a systematic literature review of the sporadically reported founder effects in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). All publications from the
,
and
Mutation Databases and publications searched for terms "hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia" and "founder" in PubMed and Scopus, respectively, were extracted. Following duplicate removal, 141 publications were searched for the terms "founder" and "founding" and the etymon "ancest". Finally, 67 publications between 1992 and 2020 were reviewed. Founder effects were graded upon shared area of ancestry/residence, shared core haplotypes, genealogy and prevalence. Twenty-six
and 12
variants with a potential founder effect were identified. The bigger the cluster of families with a founder mutation, the more remarkable is its influence to the populational
ratio, affecting HHT phenotype. Being aware of founder effects might simplify the diagnosis of HHT by establishing local genetic algorithms. Families sharing a common core haplotype might serve as a basis to study potential second-hits in the etiology of HHT.
Diagnosis of rare bleeding disorders is challenging and there are several differential diagnostics issues. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a useful tool to overcome these problems. The aim of ...this study was to demonstrate the usefulness of molecular genetic investigations by summarizing the diagnostic work on cases with certain bleeding disorders. Here we report only those, in whom NGS was indicated due to uncertainty of diagnosis or if genetic confirmation of initial diagnosis was required. Based on clinical and/or laboratory suspicion of von Willebrand disease (vWD,
= 63), hypo-or dysfibrinogenemia (
= 27), hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT,
= 10) and unexplained activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) prolongation (
= 1), NGS using Illumina platform was performed. Gene panel covered 14 genes (
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
and
) selected on the basis of laboratory results. We identified forty-seven mutations,
= 29 (6 novel) in vWD,
= 4 mutations leading to hemophilia A,
= 10 (2 novel) in fibrinogen disorders,
= 2 novel mutations in HHT phenotype and two mutations (1 novel) leading to prekallikrein deficiency. By reporting well-characterized cases using standardized, advanced laboratory methods we add new pieces of data to the continuously developing "bleeding disorders databases", which are excellent supports for clinical patient management.
Antithrombin (AT) is one of the most important regulator of hemostasis. AT Budapest 3 (ATBp3) is a prevalent type II heparin-binding site (IIHBS) deficiency due to founder effect. Thrombosis is a ...complex disease including arterial (ATE) and venous thrombotic events (VTE) and the Roma population, the largest ethnic minority in Europe has increased susceptibility to these diseases partly due to their unfavorable genetic load. We aimed to calculate the age and origin of ATBp3 and to explore whether the frequency of it is higher in the Roma population as compared with the general population from the corresponding geographical area. We investigated the association of ATBp3 with thrombotic events in well-defined patients' populations in order to refine the recommendation when testing for ATBp3 is useful.
Prevalence of ATBp3, investigated in large samples (
= 1,000 and 1,185 for general Hungarian and Roma populations, respectively) was considerably high, almost 3%, among Roma and the founder effect was confirmed in their samples, while it was absent in the Hungarian general population. Age of ATBp3-as calculated by analysis of 8 short tandem repeat sequences surrounding
-was dated back to XVII Century, when Roma migration in Central and Eastern Europe occurred. In our IIHBS cohort (
= 230), VTE was registered in almost all ATBp3 homozygotes (93%) and in 44% of heterozygotes. ATE occurred with lower frequency in ATBp3 (around 6%); it was rather associated with AT Basel (44%). All patients with ATE were young at the time of diagnosis. Upon investigating consecutive young (<40 years) patients with ATE (
= 92) and VTE (
= 110), the presence of ATBp3 was remarkable.
ATBp3, a 400-year-old founder mutation is prevalent in Roma population and its Roma origin can reasonably be assumed. By the demonstration of the presence of ATBp3 in ATE patients, we draw the attention to consider type IIHBS AT deficiency in the background of not only VTE but also ATE, especially in selected populations as young patients without advanced atherosclerosis. We recommend including the investigation of ATBp3 as part of thrombosis risk assessment and stratification in Roma individuals.
The aim of the case-control study was to explore the effect of coagulation factor XIII (FXIII) B subunit (FXIII-B) polymorphisms on the risk of coronary artery disease, and on FXIII levels. In the ...study, 687 patients admitted for coronary angiography to investigate suspected coronary artery disease and 994 individuals representing the Hungarian population were enrolled. The patients were classified according to the presence of significant coronary atherosclerosis (CAS) and history of myocardial infarction (MI). The F13B gene was genotyped for p.His95Arg and for intron K nt29756 C>G polymorphisms; the latter results in the replacement of 10 C-terminal amino acids by 25 novel amino acids. The p.His95Arg polymorphism did not influence the risk of CAS or MI. The FXIII-B intron K nt29756 G allele provided significant protection against CAS and MI in patients with a fibrinogen level in the upper tertile. However, this effect prevailed only in the presence of the FXIII-A Leu34 allele, and a synergism between the two polymorphisms was revealed. Carriers of the intron K nt29756 G allele had significantly lower FXIII levels, and FXIII levels in the lower tertile provided significant protection against MI. It is suggested that the protective effect of the combined polymorphisms is related to decreased FXIII levels.
Abstract Introduction Protein C (PC) is a major anticoagulant and numerous distinct mutations in its coding gene result in quantitative or qualitative PC deficiency with high thrombosis risk. ...Homozygous or compound heterozygous PC deficiency usually leads to life-threatening thrombosis in neonates. Patients and Methods The molecular consequences of 3 different missense mutations of two patients have been investigated. The first patient suffered from neonatal purpura fulminans and was a compound heterozygote for p.Asp77Gly and p.Ala163Glu mutations. The second patient had severe deep venous thrombosis in young adulthood and carried the p.Ala163Val mutation. The fate of mutant proteins expressed in HEK cells was monitored by ELISA, by Western blotting, by investigation of polyubiquitination and by functional assays. Their intracellular localization was examined by immunostaining and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Molecular modeling and dynamics simulations were also carried out. Results and Conclusions The 163Val and 163Glu mutants had undetectable levels in the culture media, showed intracellular co-localization with the 26S proteasome and were polyubiquitinated. The 77Gly mutant was secreted to the media showing similar activity as the wild type. There was no difference among intracellular PC levels of wild type and mutant proteins. The 163Val and 163Glu mutations caused significant changes in the relative positions of the EGF2 domains suggesting misfolding with the consequence of secretion defect. No major structural alteration was observed in case of 77Gly mutant; it might influence the stability of protein complexes in which PC participates and may have an impact on the clearance of PC requiring further research.
Increased red blood cell count may result from primary erythrocytosis (polycythemia vera), but it is often due to secondary causes with increased erythropoietin levels. Secondary erythrocytosis may ...also be congenital due to different gene mutations of hemoglobin, hemoglobin stabilization proteins, EPO receptors, or oxygen sensing pathways. Von Hippel- Lindau gene mutation causes altered tissue oxygen sensation in VHL disease, usually with normal hemoglobin. Germline
mutations associate with classical VHL disease and represent genetic susceptibility for pheochromocytoma.
polymorphisms are mostly considered an innocent phenomenon. Still, some data indicate that these polymorphisms are not always harmless and can occur with prostate, renal, and colon cancer or even with isolated erythrocytosis. Seventy-eight patients referred to our department with elevated hemoglobin were screened for
mutations. There were no classical somatic
mutations. However, we found heterozygous (GA) or homozygous (AA) rs779805
c.-195G>A polymorphism accompanied by erythrocytosis. These patients are
negative, with normal or elevated EPO levels, sometimes with family accumulations and often phlebotomy needs, and in some cases with malignancies in the family. No other cause of erythrocytosis was found. We use phlebotomy regularly, and for those with cardiovascular risk factors, we recommend aspirin.