Molecular genetic analysis of a compound heterozygote for the glycoprotein (GP) IIb gene associated with Glanzmann's thrombasthenia:: Disruption of the 674-687 disulfide bridge in GPIIb prevents surface exposure of GPIIb-IIIa complexes

This work was aimed at elucidating the molecular genetic lesion(s) responsible for the thrombasthenic phenotype of a patient whose low platelet content of glycoprotein (GP) Ilb-IIIa indicated that it was a case of type II Glanzmann's thrombasthenia (GT), The parents did not admit consanguinity and showed a reduced platelet content of GPIIb-IIIa, Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-single-stranded conformational polymorphism analysis of genomic DNA showed no mutations in the patient's GPIIIa and two novel mutations in the GPIIb gene: one of them was a heterozygous splice junction mutation, a C-->A transversion, at position +2 of the exon 5-intron 5 boundary [IVS5(+2)C-->A] inherited from the father. The predicted effect of this mutation, insertion of intron 5 (76 bp) into the GPIIb-mRNA, was confirmed by reverse transcription-PCR analysis of platelet mRNA. The almost complete absence of this mutated form of GPIIb-mRNA suggests that it is very unstable. Virtually all of the proband's GPIIb-mRNA was accounted for by the allele inherited from the mother showing a T-213-->C transition that changes Cys(674)-->Arg(674) disrupting the 674-687 intramolecular disulfide bridge. The proband showed a platelet accumulation of proGPIIb and minute amounts of GPIIb and GPIIIa. Moreover, transfection and immunoprecipitation analysis demonstrated that [Arg(674)]GPIIb is capable of forming a heterodimer complex with GPIIIa, but the rate of subunit maturation and the surface exposure of GPIIb-IIIa are strongly reduced. Thus, the intramolecular 674-687 disulfide bridge in GPIIb is essential for the normal processing of GPIIb-IIIa complexes. The additive effect of these two GPIIb mutations provides the molecular basis for the thrombasthenic phenotype of the proband. (C) 1999 by The American Society of Hematology.