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Functional analysis of four LDLR 5'UTR and promoter variants in patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia.

Khamis, A; Palmen, J; Lench, N; Taylor, A; Badmus, E; Leigh, S; Humphries, SE; (2014) Functional analysis of four LDLR 5'UTR and promoter variants in patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia. Eur J Hum Genet 10.1038/ejhg.2014.199. Green open access

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Abstract

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant inherited disease characterised by increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. The functionality of four novel variants within the LDLR 5'UTR and promoter located at c.-13A>G, c.-101T>C, c.-121T>C and c.-215A>G was investigated using in silico and in vitro assays, and a systemic bioinformatics analysis of all 36 reported promoter variants are presented. Bioinformatic tools predicted that all four variants occurred in sites likely to bind transcription factors and that binding was altered by the variant allele. Luciferase assay was performed for all the variants. Compared with wild type, the c.-101T>C and c.-121T>C variants showed significantly lower mean (±SD) luciferase activity (64±8 and 72±8%, all P<0.001), suggesting that these variants are causal of the FH phenotype. No significant effect on gene expression was seen for the c.-13A>G or c.-215A>G variants (96±15 and 100±12%), suggesting these variants are not FH causing. Similar results were seen for the c.-101T>C and c.-121T>C variants in lipid-depleted serum. However, a significant reduction in luciferase activity was seen in the c.-215A>G variant in lipid-depleted serum. Electrophoretic-mobility shift assays identified allele-specific binding of liver (hepatoma) nuclear proteins to c.-121T>C and suggestive differential binding to c.-101T>C but no binding to c.-215A>G. These data highlight the importance of in vitro testing of reported LDLR promoter variants to establish their role in FH. The functional assays performed suggest that the c.-101T>C and c.-121T>C variants are pathogenic, whereas c.-13A>G variant is benign, and the status of c.-215A>G remains unclear.European Journal of Human Genetics advance online publication, 24 September 2014; doi:10.1038/ejhg.2014.199.

Type: Article
Title: Functional analysis of four LDLR 5'UTR and promoter variants in patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia.
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/ejhg.2014.199
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2014.199
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1450634
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