Background Recently, some studies reported the pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH)-associated genes. However, a majority of patients with familial or sporadic PAH lack variants in the known pathogenic genes. In this study, we investigated the new causative gene variants associated with PAH. Methods and Results Whole-exome sequencing in 242 Japanese patients with familial or sporadic PAH identified a heterozygous substitution change involving c.226G>A (p.Gly76Ser) in tumor necrotic factor receptor superfamily 13B gene (TNFRSF13B) in 6 (2.5%) patients. TNFRSF13B controls the differentiation of B cell and secretion of inflammatory cytokines and may be involved in vascular inflammation. In silico structural analysis simulation demonstrated the structural instability of the N-terminal region of the protein synthesized from TNFRSF13B p.Gly76Ser variant. These suggest that the TNFRSF13B p.Gly76Ser variant may be involved in the development of PAH via aberrant inflammation in pulmonary vessels. Conclusions TNFRSF13B p.Gly76Ser variant is a candidate of novel causative gene variant for PAH.
Keywords: TNFRSF13B; genetics; pulmonary arterial hypertension; structural analysis; whole‐exome sequencing.