Mutation in the type II collagen gene (COL2AI) as a cause of primary osteoarthritis associated with mild spondyloepiphyseal involvement.

OBJECTIVE

To define the clinical, radiologic and molecular characteristics of a patient with early progressive osteoarthritis and mild spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia.

METHODS

We describe an 18-year-old girl with early progressive osteoarthritis and mild spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. The index case underwent a physical examination, anthropometric measurements and radiologic and laboratory studies. DNA of the patient and her only living parent (mother) was sequenced for the type II collagen gene (COL2A1).

RESULTS

Mild scoliosis was noticed in the proband at the age of 13 years. At the same age, she began to have arthralgia in almost all the joints and osteoarthritis progressed fast, necessitating a hip, knee and ankle prosthesis at the age of 18 years. She was eumorphic with no ocular or hearing abnormalities. Molecular testing of the COL2A1 gene revealed a p.Gly204Val mutation. The mutation was absent in the healthy mother.

CONCLUSION

This patient provides further proof that an early osteoarthritic phenotype can be caused by a mutation in the COL2A1 gene.