1. Biochemical analysis of patients with mutations in MTHFD1 and a diagnosis of methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase 1 deficiency
- Author
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D. Sean Froese, Gawa Bidla, Jean-Louis Guéant, Brian M. Gilfix, Avi Saskin, David S. Rosenblatt, Courtney Ells, Matin Kerachian, Karen E. Christensen, David Watkins, and Céline Chéry
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Hyperhomocysteinemia ,Homocysteine ,Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism ,MTHFD1 ,030105 genetics & heredity ,Folic Acid Deficiency ,Compound heterozygosity ,Biochemistry ,Minor Histocompatibility Antigens ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,Endocrinology ,Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome ,Genetics ,Medicine ,Humans ,Megaloblastic anemia ,Molecular Biology ,Cells, Cultured ,Methylenetetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase (NADP) ,Methionine ,business.industry ,Fibroblasts ,medicine.disease ,Molecular biology ,3. Good health ,chemistry ,Methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase ,Case-Control Studies ,Mutation ,Severe Combined Immunodeficiency ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
MTHFD1 is a trifunctional protein containing 10-formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase, 5,10-methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase and 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase activities. It is encoded by MTHFD1 and functions in the cytoplasmic folate cycle where it is involved in de novo purine synthesis, synthesis of thymidylate and remethylation of homocysteine to methionine. Since the first reported case of severe combined immunodeficiency resulting from MTHFD1 mutations, seven additional patients ascertained through molecular analysis have been reported with variable phenotypes, including megaloblastic anemia, atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, hyperhomocysteinemia, microangiopathy, infections and autoimmune diseases. We determined the level of MTHFD1 expression and dehydrogenase specific activity in cell extracts from cultured fibroblasts of three previously reported patients, as well as a patient with megaloblastic anemia and recurrent infections with compound heterozygous MTHFD1 variants that were predicted to be deleterious. MTHFD1 protein expression determined by Western blotting in fibroblast extracts from three of the patients was markedly decreased compared to expression in wild type cells (between 4.8 and 14.3% of mean control values). MTHFD1 expression in the fourth patient was approximately 44% of mean control values. There was no detectable methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase specific activity in extracts from any of the four patients. This is the first measurement of MTHFD1 function in MTHFD1 deficient patients and confirms the previous molecular diagnoses.
- Published
- 2020