Mutations in the GLI3 zinc-finger transcription factor gene cause Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome (GCPS) and Pallister-Hall syndrome (PHS), which are variable but distinct clinical entities. We hypothesized that GLI3 mutations that predict a truncated functional repressor protein cause PHS and that functional haploinsufficiency of GLI3 causes GCPS. To test these hypotheses, we screened patients with PHS and GCPS for GLI3 mutations. The patient group consisted of 135 individuals: 89 patients with GCPS and 46 patients with PHS. We detected 47 pathological mutations (among 60 probands); when these were combined with previously published mutations, two genotype-phenotype correlations were evident. First, GCPS was caused by many types of alterations, including translocations, large deletions, exonic deletions and duplications, small in-frame deletions, and missense, frameshift/nonsense, and splicing mutations. In contrast, PHS was caused only by frameshift/nonsense and splicing mutations. Second, among the frameshift/nonsense mutations, there was a clear genotype-phenotype correlation. Mutations in the first third of the gene (from open reading frame [ORF] nucleotides [nt] 1-1997) caused GCPS, and mutations in the second third of the gene (from ORF nt 1998-3481) caused primarily PHS. Surprisingly, there were 12 mutations in patients with GCPS in the 3' third of the gene (after ORF nt 3481), and no patients with PHS had mutations in this region. These results demonstrate a robust correlation of genotype and phenotype for GLI3 mutations and strongly support the hypothesis that these two allelic disorders have distinct modes of pathogenesis.

The spondylometaphyseal dysplasias (SMDs) are a group of short-stature disorders distinguished by abnormalities in the vertebrae and the metaphyses of the tubular bones. SMD Kozlowski type (SMDK) is a well-defined autosomal-dominant SMD characterized by significant scoliosis and mild metaphyseal abnormalities in the pelvis. The vertebrae exhibit platyspondyly and overfaced pedicles similar to autosomal-dominant brachyolmia, which can result from heterozygosity for activating mutations in the gene encoding TRPV4, a calcium-permeable ion channel. Mutation analysis in six out of six patients with SMDK demonstrated heterozygosity for missense mutations in TRPV4, and one mutation, predicting a R594H substitution, was recurrent in four patients. Similar to autosomal-dominant brachyolmia, the mutations altered basal calcium channel activity in vitro. Metatropic dysplasia is another SMD that has been proposed to have both clinical and genetic heterogeneity. Patients with the nonlethal form of metatropic dysplasia present with a progressive scoliosis, widespread metaphyseal involvement of the appendicular skeleton, and carpal ossification delay. Because of some similar radiographic features between SMDK and metatropic dysplasia, TRPV4 was tested as a disease gene for nonlethal metatropic dysplasia. In two sporadic cases, heterozygosity for de novo missense mutations in TRPV4 was found. The findings demonstrate that mutations in TRPV4 produce a phenotypic spectrum of skeletal dysplasias from the mild autosomal-dominant brachyolmia to SMDK to autosomal-dominant metatropic dysplasia, suggesting that these disorders should be grouped into a new bone dysplasia family.

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