A recurrent laminin 5 mutation in British patients with lethal (Herlitz) junctional epidermolysis bullosa: evidence for a mutational hotspot rather than propagation of an ancestral allele.

The three genes (LAMA3, LAB3 and LAMC2) that encode the anchoring filament protein, laminin 5, may all harbour pathogenetic mutations in the autosomal recessive blistering skin disorder, junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB). Recently, one particular mutation, R635X in the LAMB3 gene, has been found to account for approximately 40% of all JEB laminin 5 mutations (Kivirikko et al., Hum Mol Genet 1996; 5: 231-7). In this study, we assessed the frequency of this mutation in 12 British patients with lethal (Herlitz) JEB using PCR amplification of genomic DNA and restriction endonuclease digestion. The mutation R635X was fond in seven of 24 (29%) mutant alleles, confirming its relative frequency within the British gene pool. In addition, haplotype analysis using intragenic polymorphisms showed that the mutation arose on at least four different haplotype backgrounds, suggesting it represents a mutational hotspot rather than propagation of a common British ancestral allele. These findings support the hypermutable nature of this CpG dinucleotide and have implications in screening for laminin 5 gene mutations in British and other patients with JEB.