Mutations in TP73 cause impaired mucociliary clearance and lissencephaly.

American journal of human genetics 2021 Jul 01

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TP73 belongs to the TP53 family of transcription factors and has therefore been well studied in cancer research. Studies in mice, however, have revealed non-oncogenic activities related to multiciliogenesis. Utilizing whole-exome sequencing analysis in a cohort of individuals with a mucociliary clearance disorder and cortical malformation, we identified homozygous loss-of-function variants in TP73 in seven individuals from five unrelated families. All affected individuals exhibit a chronic airway disease as well as a brain malformation consistent with lissencephaly. We performed high-speed video microscopy, immunofluorescence analyses, and transmission electron microscopy in respiratory epithelial cells after spheroid or air liquid interface culture to analyze ciliary function, ciliary length, and number of multiciliated cells (MCCs). The respiratory epithelial cells studied display reduced ciliary length and basal bodies mislocalized within the cytoplasm. The number of MCCs is severely reduced, consistent with a reduced number of cells expressing the transcription factors crucial for multiciliogenesis (FOXJ1, RFX2). Our data demonstrate that autosomal-recessive deleterious variants in the TP53 family member TP73 cause a mucociliary clearance disorder due to a defect in MCC differentiation. Copyright © 2021 American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Julia Wallmeier, Diana Bracht, Hessa S Alsaif, Gerard W Dougherty, Heike Olbrich, Sandra Cindric, Mark Dzietko, Christoph Heyer, Norbert Teig, Charlotte Thiels, Eissa Faqeih, Aqeela Al-Hashim, Sameena Khan, Ibrahim Mogarri, Mohammed Almannai, Wadha Al Otaibi, Fowzan S Alkuraya, Cordula Koerner-Rettberg, Heymut Omran. Mutations in TP73 cause impaired mucociliary clearance and lissencephaly. American journal of human genetics. 2021 Jul 01;108(7):1318-1329