1. CAKUT and Autonomic Dysfunction Caused by Acetylcholine Receptor Mutations
- Author
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Toshimitsu Kawate, Amar J. Majmundar, Dervla M. Connaughton, Amelie T. van der Ven, Rufeng Dai, Jameela A. Kari, Caroline M. Kolvenbach, Madeleine J. Tooley, Mohamed A. Shalaby, Ryan E. Hibbs, Erik Henze, Shirlee Shril, Jing Chen, Sherif El Desoky, Nina Mann, Stuart B. Bauer, Lucy Bownass, Hadas Ityel, Richard P. Lifton, Makiko Nakayama, Velibor Tasic, Shrikant Mane, Chen Han W. Wu, Jonathan M. Beckel, Heiko Reutter, Verena Klämbt, Sian Ellard, Weiqun Yu, Franziska Kause, Friedhelm Hildebrandt, Elisa De Franco, Anant Gharpure, and Richard S. Lee
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,0301 basic medicine ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Urinary system ,030232 urology & nephrology ,Receptors, Nicotinic ,Kidney ,Young Adult ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Report ,Internal medicine ,Genetics ,medicine ,Humans ,Urinary Tract ,Genetics (clinical) ,Upper urinary tract ,Acetylcholine receptor ,business.industry ,Dysautonomia ,Prognosis ,medicine.disease ,Pedigree ,Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ,030104 developmental biology ,Endocrinology ,Nicotinic agonist ,Autonomic Nervous System Diseases ,Urogenital Abnormalities ,Mutation ,Female ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Urinary tract obstruction ,Acetylcholine ,Follow-Up Studies ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) are the most common cause of chronic kidney disease in the first three decades of life, and in utero obstruction to urine flow is a frequent cause of secondary upper urinary tract malformations. Here, using whole-exome sequencing, we identified three different biallelic mutations in CHRNA3, which encodes the α3 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, in five affected individuals from three unrelated families with functional lower urinary tract obstruction and secondary CAKUT. Four individuals from two families have additional dysautonomic features, including impaired pupillary light reflexes. Functional studies in vitro demonstrated that the mutant nicotinic acetylcholine receptors were unable to generate current following stimulation with acetylcholine. Moreover, the truncating mutations p.Thr337Asnfs(∗)81 and p.Ser340(∗) led to impaired plasma membrane localization of CHRNA3. Although the importance of acetylcholine signaling in normal bladder function has been recognized, we demonstrate for the first time that mutations in CHRNA3 can cause bladder dysfunction, urinary tract malformations, and dysautonomia. These data point to a pathophysiologic sequence by which monogenic mutations in genes that regulate bladder innervation may secondarily cause CAKUT.
- Published
- 2019