- Erratum in:
- Nat Genet. 2005 Jun;37(6):652.
Sarcoidosis is associated with a truncating splice site mutation in BTNL2.
Valentonyte R,
Hampe J,
Huse K,
Rosenstiel P,
Albrecht M,
Stenzel A,
Nagy M,
Gaede KI,
Franke A,
Haesler R,
Koch A,
Lengauer T,
Seegert D,
Reiling N,
Ehlers S,
Schwinger E,
Platzer M,
Krawczak M,
Müller-Quernheim J,
Schürmann M,
Schreiber S.
Institute for Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Schittenhelmstr. 12, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
Sarcoidosis is a polygenic immune disorder with predominant manifestation in the lung. Genome-wide linkage analysis previously indicated that the extended major histocompatibility locus on chromosome 6p was linked to susceptibility to sarcoidosis. Here, we carried out a systematic three-stage SNP scan of 16.4 Mb on chromosome 6p21 in as many as 947 independent cases of familial and sporadic sarcoidosis and found that a 15-kb segment of the gene butyrophilin-like 2 (BTNL2) was associated with the disease. The primary disease-associated variant (rs2076530; P(TDT) = 3 x 10(-6), P(case-control) = 1.1 x 10(-8); replication P(TDT) = 0.0018, P(case-control) = 1.8 x 10(-6)) represents a risk factor that is independent of variation in HLA-DRB1. BTNL2 is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily and has been implicated as a costimulatory molecule involved in T-cell activation on the basis of its homology to B7-1. The G --> A transition constituting rs2076530 leads to the use of a cryptic splice site located 4 bp upstream of the affected wild-type donor site. Transcripts of the risk-associated allele have a premature stop in the spliced mRNA. The resulting protein lacks the C-terminal IgC domain and transmembrane helix, thereby disrupting the membrane localization of the protein, as shown in experiments using green fluorescent protein and V5 fusion proteins.
PMID: 15735647 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]