Griscelli disease maps to chromosome 15q21 and is associated with mutations in the myosin-Va gene.

Griscelli disease (OMIM 214450) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by pigmentary dilution, variable cellular immunodeficiency and onset of acute phases of uncontrolled lymphocyte and macrophage activation, leading to death in the absence of bone-marrow transplantation. The pigmentary dilution is characterized by a diffuse skin pigmentation, silvery hair, large clumps of pigments in the hair shafts (Fig. 1) and an accumulation of melanosomes in melanocytes, with abnormal transfer of the melanin granules to the keratinocytes. Immunological abnormalities are characterized by absent delayed-type cutaneous hypersensitivity and an impaired natural-killer cell function. A similar disorder has been described in the dilute lethal mouse--which, however, differs by the occurrence of a severe neurological disorder. The dilute locus encodes myosin-Va, a member of the unconventional myosin family. Myosins bind actin and produce mechanical force through ATP hydrolysis. Some members of this family are thought to participate in organelle-transport machinery. Because of the phenotype resulting in the dilute mouse and because of their potential role in intracellular transport, unconventional myosin-encoding genes were regarded as candidate genes for Griscelli disease. Here we report that the Griscelli disease locus co-localizes on chromosome 15q21 with the myosin-Va gene, MYO5a, and that mutations of this gene occur in two patients with the disease. Griscelli disease is therefore a human equivalent of dilute expression in the mouse.

Perforin gene defects in familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

Familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL) is a rare, rapidly fatal, autosomal recessive immune disorder characterized by uncontrolled activation of T cells and macrophages and overproduction of inflammatory cytokines. Linkage analyses indicate that FHL is genetically heterogeneous and linked to 9q21.3-22, 10q21-22, or another as yet undefined locus. Sequencing of the coding regions of the perforin gene of eight unrelated 10q21-22-linked FHL patients revealed homozygous nonsense mutations in four patients and missense mutations in the other four patients. Cultured lymphocytes from patients had defective cytotoxic activity, and immunostaining revealed little or no perforin in the granules. Thus, defects in perforin are responsible for 10q21-22-linked FHL. Perforin-based effector systems are, therefore, involved not only in the lysis of abnormal cells but also in the down-regulation of cellular immune activation.

Chediak-Higashi syndrome associated with maternal uniparental isodisomy of chromosome 1.

Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder (incidence around 1 in 106 births), characterised by a complex immunologic defects, reduced pigmentation, and presence of giant granules in many different cell types. It most likely results from defective organellar trafficking or protein sorting. The causative gene (LYST) has recently been identified and shown to be homologous to the beige locus in the mouse. CHS has always been reported associated with premature-termination-codon mutations in both alleles of LYST. We report a unique patient with CHS, who was homozygous for a stop codon in the LYST gene on chromosome 1 and who had a normal 46,XY karyotype. The mother was found to be a carrier of the mutation, whereas the father had two normal LYST alleles. Non-paternity was excluded by the analysis of microsatellite markers from different chromosomes. The results of 13 informative microsatellite markers spanning the entire chromosome 1 revealed that the proband had a maternal isodisomy of chromosome 1 encompassing the LYST mutation. The proband's clinical presentation also confirms the absence of imprinted genes on chromosome 1.

Genetic basis of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis syndrome (Review).

The group of immune disorders which leads to the occurrence of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) syndrome presents a strange paradox in that patients with these conditions associate a dramatic immune response to infection with the failure to establish an effective immune response. During the last few years, significant progress was made in the characterization and the understanding of the molecular basis involved in these inherited immune disorders. The hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis syndrome which characterized the evolution of the Chediak-Higashi syndrome and the Griscelli disease results from defects affecting intracellular trafficking. A defective SH2 protein interacting with T lymphocyte intracellular signaling pathways is the cause of the X-linked lymphoproliferative disease, whereas at least three distinct genetic defects can lead to the familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. The molecular characterization of these latter defects is in progress. This review summarizes the recent advances as well as their implications in the diagnosis and the understanding of the physiopathology of these disorders.

Linkage of familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis to 10q21-22 and evidence for heterogeneity.

Familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by the early onset of overwhelming activation of T lymphocytes and macrophages, invariably leading to death, in the absence of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Using genomewide genetic linkage analysis, we analyzed a group of 17 families with FHL and mapped a locus for FHL to the proximal region of the long arm of chromosome 10. Ten families showed no recombination with three tightly linked markers, D10S1650 (LOD score [Z]=6.99), D10S556 (Z=5.40), and D10S206 (Z=3.24), with a maximum multipoint LOD score of 11.22 at the D10S1650 locus. Haplotype analysis of these 10 families allowed us to establish D10S206 and D10S1665 as the telomeric and the centromeric flanking markers, respectively. Heterogeneity analysis and haplotype inspection of the remaining families confirmed that in seven families FHL was not linked to the 10q21-22 region, thus providing evidence for genetic heterogeneity of this condition.

Lack of cleavage of IcsA in Shigella flexneri causes aberrant movement and allows demonstration of a cross-reactive eukaryotic protein.

Once in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells, Shigella flexneri expresses a motile phenotype caused by polar directional assembly of actin. This process depends on accumulation of IcsA (VirG), a 120-kDa protein with ATPase activity, at the pole of the bacterium opposite to that at which ongoing septation occurs. IcsA is also secreted into the bacterial supernatant as a 95-kDa species, after cleavage at an SSRRASS sequence which, when mutagenized, blocks processing. MAbF15, an anti-IcsA monoclonal antibody, recognizes an epitope located within repeated Gly-rich boxes in the N-terminal half of the protein. We used this monoclonal antibody to visualize the location of a noncleavable 120-kDa IcsA mutant protein expressed in S. flexneri. We found that this noncleavable IcsA protein no longer localized exclusively to the pole of the bacterium but also could be detected circumferentially. Whereas the monoclonal antibody detected the wild-type cleavable form of IcsA in only 40% of the cells expressing this protein, the noncleavable was easily detectable in all the cells carrying the icsA mutant allele. Similar aberrant localization of the IcsA mutant protein on bacteria growing within the cytoplasm of HeLa cells was observed. The strains expressing the noncleavable IcsA protein expressed abnormal intracellular movement and were often observed moving in a direction perpendicular to their longitudinal axis. The putative protease which processes IcsA may therefore play a role in achieving polar expression of this protein and providing maximum asymmetry essential to directional movement. In addition, MAbF15 allowed us to identify a 70-kDa eukaryotic protein cross-reacting with IcsA. This protein accumulated in the actin tails of motile bacteria and in membrane ruffles of the cells.

Identification of mutations in two major mRNA isoforms of the Chediak-Higashi syndrome gene in human and mouse.

Chediak-Higashi syndrome is an autosomal recessive, immune deficiency disorder of human (CHS) and mouse (beige, bg) that is characterized by abnormal intracellular protein transport to, and from, the lysosome. Recent reports have described the identification of homologous genes that are mutated in human CHS and bg mice. Here we report the sequences of two major mRNA isoforms of the CHS gene in human and mouse. These isoforms differ both in size and in sequence at the 3' end of their coding domains, with the smaller isoform (approximately 5.8 kb) arising from incomplete splicing and reading through an intron. These mRNAs also differ in tissue distribution of transcription and in predicted biological properties. Novel mutations were identified within the region of the coding domain common to both isoforms in three CHS patients: C-->T transitions that generated stop codons (R50X and Q1029X) were found in two patients, and a novel frameshift mutation (deletion of nucleotides 3073 and 3074 of the coding domain) was found in a third. Northern blots of lymphoblastoid mRNA from CHS patients revealed loss of the largest transcript (approximately 13.5 kb) in two of seven CHS patients, while the small mRNA was undiminished in abundance. These results suggest that the small isoform alone cannot complement Chediak-Higashi syndrome.