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Original Studies |
Department of Medicine II and Department of Laboratory Medicine (H.C.), Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Health Administration Center, Hokkaido University of Education (M.K), Sapporo 060, Japan
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to; Dr. Norio Wada, Department of Medicine II, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Kita-15, Nishi-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060, Japan.
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Peterson et al. (7) and Sunthornthepvarakul et al. (8) reported independently that in the second nucleotide of codon 218 of the albumin gene, guanine was replaced by adenine in one of two alleles, the result being replacement of arginine (CGC) by histidine (CAC) in subjects with FDH.
We report here a Japanese kindred with FDH, a unique phenotype characterized by extremely high serum T4 levels. In addition, we found a novel missense mutation in codon 218 of the albumin gene; arginine (CGC) was replaced by proline (CCC) in all subjects in this family examined for FDH.
| Subjects and Methods |
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The proband, a 32-yr-old Japanese woman, was referred to Urakawa Red Cross Hospital in May 1991. She complained of feeling feverish. Although she had no goiter or signs of thyrotoxicosis, levels of serum TT4 and TT3 were high. She was followed up, but no specific treatment was given. In April 1994, our team was asked to investigate in detail her abnormal thyroid function tests.
Thyroid function tests
Serum TT4 was measured using commercial RIA kits (Dinabot, Matsudo, Japan). Serum free T4 (fT4) was measured using following commercial kits: RIA using T4 analog (Corning, Medfield, MA), equilibrium dialysis/RIA (Nichols Institute, San Juan Capistrano, CA), and one-step, labeled antibody radioassay (Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Amersham, UK). Serum TT3, free T3 (fT3), and TSH were measured using commercial enzyme immunoassay kits (Boehringer Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany). Serum rT3 was measured using a commercial RIA kit (Dinabot, Matsudo, Japan). Serum T4-binding globulin (TBG) was measured using a commercial RIA kit (Hoechst, Frankfurt, Germany). Serum albumin was measured by absorbance at 630 nm using bromcresol green. Serum transthyretin was measured by nephelometry.
Analysis by agarose gel electrophoresis of [125I]T4 and [125I]T3 distribution in serum thyroid hormone-binding proteins
One hundred microliters of serum samples were incubated overnight with a tracer amount of [125I]T4 or [125I]T3 (SA, 41.0 and 44.4 megabecquerels/µg, respectively; DuPont, Wilmington, DE) at 4 C. The incubated samples (0.5 µL) were applied to a layer of 1% agarose gel (Universal Gel, Ciba Corning Diagnostics Corp., Palo Alto, CA) and electrophoresed in glycine-acetate buffer (0.17 mol/L glycine, 0.13 mol/L acetic acid, 0.14 mol/L sodium hydroxide, and 3.1 mmol/L sodium azide, pH 8.6) at 100 V at 4 C for 75 min. The gel was dried and submitted to autoradiography.
Binding study of [125I]T4 for serum albumin
Albumin was isolated from the serum of the proband and a normal subject by Cibacron blue F3GA (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA). The serum samples (0.25 mL) were applied on the column in phosphate buffer (0.012 mol/L Na2HPO4 and 0.008 mol/L NaH2PO4, pH 7.1); for elution, we used the same buffer containing 1.5 mol/L NaCl. Absorbance was monitored at 280 nm, and 6 mL of each fraction were collected. Ten micrograms of albumin sample, a tracer amount of [125I]T4, and various concentrations of nonradioactive T4 were incubated overnight in 200 µL phosphate-buffered saline at 4 C. The samples, mixed with 200 µL phosphate-buffered saline containing 0.1% charcoal and 0.4% dextran, were left to stand on ice for 10 min, then were centrifuged at 2000 rpm for 15 min. The supernatants were aspirated, and radioactivities were counted. The association constants (Ka) were calculated according to the method of Scatchard (9).
Sequencing of the albumin gene
Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood using Qiagen
Blood and Cultured Cell DNA kits (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). DNA
fragments containing each exon of the albumin gene were amplified by
PCR. All sets of primers for PCR, listed in Table 1
, were synthesized according to the
genomic sequences reported previously (10). One hundred microliters of
the reaction solution contained 1 µg genomic DNA, 50 pmol of each
primer, 10 U Taq DNA polymerase (Perkin-Elmer Co., Norwalk,
CT), 20 mmol/L of each deoxy-NTP, and 0.15 mmol/L MgCl2 in
10 mmol/L Tris-HCl and 50 mmol/L KCl, pH 8.3, solution. PCR was
performed as follows; initial denaturation at 94 C for 1 min, followed
by 30 cycles of a denaturation step at 94 C for 15 s, an annealing
step at 54 C (for exons 1, 9, 10, 13, and 14), 56 C (for exons 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 8, 11, and 12), or 60 C (for exon 7) for 20 s, and an
extension step at 72 C for 1 min, and finally an additive hold at 72 C
for 10 min (Gene Amp PCR System 2400, Perkin-Elmer Co.). The PCR
products were purified with Wizard PCR Preps (Promega, Madison, WI) and
directly sequenced using the same primers used for amplification with
Taq DyeDeoxy Terminator Cycle Sequencing Kits (Perkin Elmer
Co.).
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To examine the mutation of codon 218 in exon 7 of the albumin
gene, the endonuclease digestion/allele-specific primer method (11) was
used. A degenerate oligonucleotide primer and an antisense primer
according to 5'-sequences just upstream of and 3'-sequences around 100
bp downstream of the mutant nucleotide, respectively, as shown in Table 1
, were synthesized. When the template genomic DNA contained the
mutation guanine to cytosine, the PCR product between the two primers
creates a unique restriction site for AvaII (GGNCC). The PCR
reaction mixture contained the same amount of each material as
described above. PCR was performed as follows: initial denaturation at
94 C for 1 min, followed by 30 cycles of a denaturation step at 94 C
for 15 s, an annealing step at 47 C for 30 s, and an
extension step at 72 C for 1 min, and finally an additive hold at 72 C
for 10 min. Ten microliters of the PCR products were digested with 10 U
AvaII (New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA) at 37 C for 2
h and subjected to electrophoresis on a 5% polyacrylamide gel.
| Results |
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The pedigree map is shown in Fig. 1
, and the results of thyroid function tests for the family are summarized
in Table 2
. In FDH-affected subjects,
serum TT4 levels ranged from 1763.22741.3 nmol/L, serum
TT3 levels ranged from 2.735.62 nmol/L, and serum
rT3 levels ranged from 1.082.52 nmol/L. Serum
fT4 levels measured using T4 analog RIA kit
ranged from 113.3-over 119.7 pmol/L, and serum fT3 levels
ranged from 15.830.1 pmol/L in FDH-affected subjects. In the proband,
serum fT4 levels determined by the equilibrium dialysis/RIA
kit and by the one-step, labeled antibody radioassay kit were 71.6
pmol/L (normal range, 9.924.7) and 16.7 pmol/L (normal range,
11.523.0), respectively. In the proband, TSH receptor antibody and
anti-T3 and anti-T4 antibodies were not
detected.
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In a normal subject, the intensity of
[125I]T4 in the albumin fraction was least
among the three T4-binding proteins (Fig. 2A
, lane 2). However, most of
[125I]T4 was distributed in the albumin
fraction in the proband (Fig. 2A
, lane 1). There was more
[125I]T3 in the TBG fraction than in the
albumin fraction in a normal subject (Fig. 2B
, lane 2). In the proband,
there was more [125I]T3 in the albumin
fraction than in the TBG fraction (Fig. 2B
, lane 1).
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The Ka of serum albumin for T4
was 9.1 x 106 mol/L-1 in the proband,
approximately 80-fold that of albumin in a normal subject (1.1 x
105 mol/L-1; Fig. 3
).
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Direct sequencing of the PCR-amplified DNA fragment containing
exon 7 of the albumin gene in the proband revealed a guanine to
cytosine transition in the second nucleotide of codon 218, resulting in
substitution of proline for arginine (Fig. 4
). As guanine was also present at the
same position (Fig. 4
), the proband was a heterozygote. There was no
transition at that position in a FDH-unaffected subject (no. 7) in the
family (Fig. 4
). DNA fragments of 13 other exons from the proband were
also amplified and sequenced; sequences were identical to those of the
albumin gene reported by Minghetti et al. (10).
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PCR performed using the degenerate primer amplified 153 bp of the
DNA fragment. PAGE demonstrated that AvaII digestion reduced
the length of the DNA fragment from the proband with the mutant CCC,
codon 218 (proline), from 153 bp to 122 and 31 bp, but not that in
subject 7 with the normal CGC (arginine). All subjects with FDH (no. 1,
4, 5, 6, and 8) were heterozygous for arginine and proline in codon
218, and two subjects without FDH (subjects 2 and 7) were homozygous
for arginine in codon 218 (Fig. 5
).
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| Discussion |
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In reports of FDH in Caucasians, serum TT4 concentrations were within about 2- to 3-fold of the normal upper limit (3). In contrast, serum TT4 concentrations were 11- to 17-fold of the normal upper limit in our subjects with FDH. This finding suggests that the affinity of albumin for T4 in FDH-affected members of the present family is much higher than that in cases of FDH in Caucasians. The Ka of the isolated albumin for T4 from serum of the proband is about 80-fold of that in a normal subject, greater than that in Caucasian FDH subjects, in whom the range was from 2.5- to 20-fold of that in normal subjects (8, 12, 13, 14, 15).
In subjects with FDH in the present family, serum TT3 levels ranged from 0.9- to 1.9-fold of the normal upper limit, and serum rT3 levels from 1.8- to 4.2-fold. The elevation of their TT3 levels is due to an increased affinity of T3 for the variant albumin, as shown by electrophoretic analysis of [125I]T3 distribution in serum thyroid hormone-binding proteins. High rT3 levels also seem to be due to an increased affinity, but such experiments were not performed. In FDH-affected members of this family, fT4 and fT3 levels measured by RIA using T4 analog and by enzyme immunoassay using T3 analog were elevated. Rajatanavin et al. noted high serum fT4 levels in subjects with FDH, determined by T4 analog RIAs (16). They assumed that [125I]T4 derivatives might bind to the abnormal serum albumin. In our cases, the labeled T4 and T3 derivatives may also bind to the variant albumin, leading to high serum fT4 and fT3 levels. Although the reason why the serum fT4 level in the proband measured by equilibrium dialysis/RIA was high is obscure, her serum fT4 level determined by the one-step, labeled antibody radioassay was within normal limits.
Guanine was replaced by cytosine in the second nucleotide of codon 218 in the albumin gene, resulting in replacement of arginine by proline in one of the two alleles in the proband with FDH, yet all other sequences of the coding region were identical to those of the albumin gene reported by Minghetti et al. (10). Peterson et al. (7) reported that a guanine to adenine transition in the second nucleotide of codon 218 of the albumin gene led to substitution of histidine for arginine in one of the two alleles in two unrelated Caucasian subjects with FDH, and Sunthornthepvarakul et al. (8) independently described the same mutation, guanine to adenine at the same position, codon 218 of the albumin gene, in one of the two alleles in eight unrelated Caucasian subjects with FDH. The point mutation in Japanese subjects with FDH was found at the same position as that in FDH Caucasians, but the substituting amino acid differed. Caucasian subjects with FDH and a mutant albumin-His218 had a phenotype characterized by slightly elevated serum TT4 concentrations. In contrast, Japanese subjects with FDH with the mutant albumin-Pro218 showed a different phenotype, characterized by extremely increased serum levels of TT4.
Codon 218 is located in subdomain 2A of human serum albumin, where high affinity T4-binding components are localized (17, 18). Peterson et al. (19) found that using a yeast expression system, the Ka of recombinant albumin-His218 for T4 was 65-fold greater than that of recombinant wild-type albumin. In addition, they investigated the binding of T4 and T4 analogs to recombinant wild-type albumin and mutant albumin-His218 as well as mutant albumin-Met218, -Leu214, and -Met222 by equilibrium dialysis and quenching of tryptophan 214 (20). The results suggested that the guanidino group of arginine codon 218 is involved in an unfavorable binding interaction with the amino group of T4. Because both histidine and proline lack the guanidino group molecule, the mutant albumin-His218 and albumin-Pro218 may form more favorable T4-binding pockets than wild-type albumin. Alternatively, proline can induce a structural kink and thereby alter a protein conformation, suggesting that albumin-Pro218 may create a more propitious T4-binding pocket than wild-type albumin and albumin-His218. The x-ray crystallographic analysis of albumin-Pro218 and another mutant albumin at codon 218 is required for clarifying this.
In conclusion, there exists a distinct ethnic phenotype of FDH, characterized by extremely elevated serum TT4 levels and relatively elevated serum TT3 and rT3 levels in the Japanese. A missense mutation in codon 218 of the albumin gene and replacement of arginine by proline are thought to be responsible for this condition.
| Acknowledgments |
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Received December 6, 1996.
Revised April 28, 1997.
Accepted June 17, 1997.
| References |
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