Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a monogenic autosomal dominant disorder caused by defects in LDLR. Few reports describe FH mutations among Arabs. We describe a mutation in LDLR of two unrelated Arab families. We investigated 19 patients using DNA sequencing, RFLP, and real-time (RT) PCR. DNA sequencing showed a base pair substitution (c.1706-2 A>T) in the splice acceptor site of LDLR intron 11. Our results were confirmed by RFLP on 2% agarose gel. In silico analysis predicted a new cryptic splice site downstream of the original position generating a 10-base deletion from the beginning of exon 12; (c.1706-1715del.ATCTCCTCAG). cDNA sequencing of exon 12 confirmed the computational analysis. The deletion was visualized on 4% agarose gel. The deletion generates a frameshift and a premature termination codon (c.1991-1993; p.(Asp569Valfs*93). RT-PCR revealed that LDLR mRNA is 9.3%±6.5 and 17.9%±8.0 for FH homozygote and heterozygote individuals respectively, compared to a healthy family control. We predict a class II LDLR mutation that leads to a truncated receptor missing exons 14-18. We called this mutation "the Arabic allele". We expect a significant contribution of this mutation to the prevalence of FH among Arabs. Also, we propose that the severe down regulation of LDLR mRNA expression is due to nonsense-mediated-decay.
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