Autosomal recessive chronic granulomatous disease caused by novel mutations in NCF-2, the gene encoding the p67-phox component of phagocyte NADPH oxidase
D. Noack et al., Autosomal recessive chronic granulomatous disease caused by novel mutations in NCF-2, the gene encoding the p67-phox component of phagocyte NADPH oxidase, HUM GENET, 105(5), 1999, pp. 460-467
Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare inherited immunodeficiency di
sease that leads to severe recurrent infections. CGD is caused by defects i
n the phagocyte NADPH oxidase, a multiprotein enzyme that reduces oxygen to
superoxide, a precursor of microbicidal oxidants. Less than 6% of CGD pati
ents have an autosomal recessive form of the disease caused by mutations in
NCF-2. This gene encodes p67-phox-, a cytosolic oxidase subunit that assoc
iates with membrane-bound flavocytochrome b(558) and regulates electron tra
nsfer We studied six patients from five families with p67-phox deficiency a
nd identified seven different mutant alleles. Patients from three of the ki
ndreds were homozygous for their respective mutation, although the parents
of only one family were known to be related. Five of the mutations have not
previously been identified: (1) a missense mutation (383C-->T) in exon 5,
(2) a nonsense mutation (196C-->T) in exon 3, (3) a missense mutation (230G
-->A) in exon 3, (4) a nonsense mutation (298C-->T) in exon 4, and (5) a di
nucleotide deletion (835-836 AC) from exon 9. Phagocytes from each of the p
atients analyzed failed to generate a measurable respiratory burst and had
no detectable p67-phox protein. Our results further demonstrate that there
is great heterogeneity among the mutations in p67-phox-deficient CGD patien
ts, with no evidence for mutational hot-spots or a founder effect. Our data
also support the hypothesis that the stability of p67-phox is particularly
sensitive to missense mutations that cause amino acid substitutions within
its N-terminal domain. In contrast, mutations predicting single amino acid
changes elsewhere in the protein generally represent benign polymorphisms.