Familial isolated hyperparathyroidism as a variant of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 in a large Danish pedigree

We report here our genetic findings of a family in which 14 members were affected with isolated primary hyperparathyroidism. Hyperparathyroidism is the main feature of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1), making the recently cloned MEN1 gene a prime candidate gene in this family. Significantly positive lod scores were achieved with D11S4946 (3.36) and D11S4940 (3.53), and by combining the results from these two markers, a maximum positive lod score of 4.12 at recombination fraction 0.00 was obtained. Mutation analysis of MEN1 performed by full sequencing identified a missense mutation in exon 4, causing an amino acid change from glutamine to proline at codon 260. This mutation (Q260P) was present in all affected family members, and the inheritance of the mutation was in complete agreement with the disease-associated haplotype. In comparison with the recent functional studies of the menin protein interactions, this mutation is located in a region with little or no binding activity to JunD and activating protein-1 transcription factor. We conclude that some of the familial isolated primary hyperparathyroidism families constitute a milder variant of MEN 1, which is associated with a functionally milder missense mutation.