Novel FOXL2 mutations in two Chinese families with blepharophimosis-ptosis-epicanthus inversus syndrome.
BACKGROUND
Blepharophimosis-ptosis-epicanthus inversus syndrome (BPES) is a rare autosomal dominant disease. Mutations in the forkhead box L2 (FOXL2) gene cause two types of BPES distinguished by the presence (type I) and absence (type II) of premature ovarian failure (POF). The purpose of this study was to identify possible mutations in FOXL2 in two Chinese families with BPES.


METHODS
Two large autosomal dominant Chinese BPES families were enrolled in this study. Genomic DNA was obtained from the leukocytes in peripheral venous blood. Four overlapping sets of primers were used to amplify the entire coding region and nearby intron sequences of the FOXL2 gene for mutations detection using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing analyses. The sequencing results were analyzed using DNAstar software.


RESULTS
All patients of the two families demonstrated typical features of BPES type II, including small palpebral fissures, ptosis, telecanthus, and epicanthus inversus without female infertility (POF). A novel FOXL2 heterozygous indel mutation c.675_690delinsT, including a 16-bp deletion and a 1-bp(T) insertion (p.Ala226_Ala230del), which would result in deletion of 5 alanine residues of a poly-alanine (poly-Ala) tract in the protein, was identified in all affected members of family A. A novel heterozygous missense mutation (c.223C > T, p.Leu75Phe) was identified in family B.


CONCLUSIONS
Two novel FOXL2 mutations were identified in Chinese families with BPES. Our results expand the spectrum of FOXL2 mutations and provide additional structure-function insights into the FOXL2 protein.
Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China. flyxuemin@163.com.|Department of Ophthalmology, Anhui NO.2 Provincial people's hospital, Hefei, China. flyxuemin@163.com.
Min
M
Xue
Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China. 174390607@qq.com.
Jie
J
Zheng
National MOE Key Laboratory of Gene Resource Utilization for Important Genetic Disease, Anhui Key Laboratory of Genetic Research, Hefei, China. 369511550@qq.com.
Qing
Q
Zhou
Ophthalmic Genetics and Visual Function Branch, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. hejtmancikj@nei.nih.gov.
J Fielding
JF
Hejtmancik
National MOE Key Laboratory of Gene Resource Utilization for Important Genetic Disease, Anhui Key Laboratory of Genetic Research, Hefei, China. aydesm-1@163.com.
Yuan
Y
Wang
Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China. shoulingli@126.com.
Shouling
S
Li
D001483:Base Sequence; D016569:Blepharophimosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D000074842:Forkhead Box Protein L2; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D005799:Genes, Dominant / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D010375:Pedigree; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012868:Skin Abnormalities / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D014564:Urogenital Abnormalities
D017931:DNA Primers; C421604:FOXL2 protein, human; D000074842:Forkhead Box Protein L2; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors