We report two patients of east African ancestry with the same novel homozygous variant in the parathyroid hormone receptor type 1 (PTH1R). Both patients shared skeletal features including brachydactyly, extensive metacarpal pseudoepiphyses, elongated cone-shaped epiphyses, ischiopubic hypoplasia, deficient sacral ossification, suggestive of Eiken syndrome. Strikingly, both patients exhibited clinically manifest parathyroid hormone (PTH) resistance with hypocalcaemia and elevated serum phosphate levels. These laboratory and clinical abnormalities initially suggested pseudohypoparathyroidism, which is typically associated with GNAS abnormalities. In both patients, however, a homozygous novel PTH1R variant was identified (c.710 T > A; p.IIe237Asn, p.I237N) that is located in the second transmembrane helical domain. Previously, others have reported a patient with a nearby PTH1R mutation (D241E) who presented with similar clinical features, e.g. delayed bone mineralization as well as clinical PTH resistance. Functional analysis of the effects of both novel PTH1R variants (I237N- and D241E-PTH1R) in HEK293 reporter cells transfected with plasmid DNA encoding the wild-type or mutant PTH1Rs demonstrated increased basal cAMP signalling for both variants, with relative blunting of responses to both PTH and PTH-related peptide (PTHrP) ligands. The clinical presentation of PTH resistance and delayed bone mineralization combined with the functional properties of the mutant PTH1Rs suggest that this form of Eiken syndrome results from alterations in PTH1R-mediated signalling in response to both canonical ligands, PTH and PTHrP.
Keywords: Calcium homeostasis; Delayed ossification; Eiken syndrome; Gpcr disease variants; Parathyroid hormone resistance; Pth1r.
Eiken syndrome is an extremely rare genetic disorder of skeletal development, previously reported in only 7 people in the medical literature. It is due to alterations in the gene for the parathyroid hormone receptor type 1 (PTH1R). This receptor can bind two different hormones; parathyroid hormone (PTH), which is the body’s main regulator of the level of calcium in the blood, and parathyroid hormone related peptide (PTHrP), a smaller hormone that regulates bone development. We report two new cases of Eiken syndrome sharing the exact same change in the PTH1R gene. This genetic change has not been previously reported. The patients had many of the typical findings in the skeleton reported in previous cases of Eiken syndrome, but with some variation in the features. However, unlike any previously reported people with Eiken syndrome, the two patients we describe had low levels of calcium in the blood causing significant symptoms. Low calcium has been reported in some cases of Eiken syndrome before, but this has been mild and not associated with symptoms. We wanted to explore how this new mutation affects the function of the PTH receptor, particularly how it might affect the signals generated when the receptor binds to its two different hormones, PTH and PTHrP. We did this by genetically reprogramming a cell line with the new mutation, and then testing those cells’ responses to stimulation by the two hormones. We showed that the altered receptor appears to be unable to bind both hormones in a stable fashion, explaining why the patients showed changes both in the skeleton (due mostly to altered PTHrP signalling) and in the blood level of calcium (mostly due to altered PTH signalling).
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