XLA patients with BTK splice-site mutations produce low levels of wild-type BTK transcripts

J Clin Immunol. 2002 Sep;22(5):306-18. doi: 10.1023/a:1019982206951.

Abstract

X-linked agammaglobulinemia is caused by mutations in the BTK gene, which result in a precursor B-cell differentiation arrest in the bone marrow and the absence of or strongly reduced B lymphocytes in blood. We identified a patient with a mild clinical phenotype, low numbers of B lymphocytes, and a splice-site mutation in the BTK gene. The precursor B-cell compartment in the bone marrow of this patient was almost identical to that in healthy children. Using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, we were able to detect low levels of wild-type BTK transcripts in his granulocytes. Therefore, we speculated that wild-type BTK transcripts might be responsible for a milder clinical and immunological phenotype, as has been shown in several other diseases. Consequently, we quantified the expression of wild-type BTK transcripts in granulocytes of eight additional patients with splice-site mutations and compared their phenotypes with 17 patients with other types of BTK mutations. In these eight patients, the presence of low levels of wild-type BTK transcripts did not show a clear correlation with the percentage, absolute number, or immunophenotype of B lymphocytes nor with age or serum immunoglobulin levels at diagnosis. Nevertheless, we postulate that the presence of wild-type BTK transcripts can be one of the many factors that influence the clinical and immunological phenotype in X-linked agammaglobulinemia.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Agammaglobulinaemia Tyrosine Kinase
  • Agammaglobulinemia / enzymology
  • Agammaglobulinemia / genetics*
  • Agammaglobulinemia / immunology
  • Alternative Splicing
  • Child
  • Chromosomes, Human, X*
  • DNA, Recombinant
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Gene Expression
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mutation*
  • Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / genetics*
  • Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / metabolism
  • RNA, Messenger / analysis
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism

Substances

  • DNA, Recombinant
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
  • Agammaglobulinaemia Tyrosine Kinase
  • BTK protein, human