Purpose: Posterior polymorphous corneal dystrophy (PPCD) is a genetically heterogeneous autosomal dominant condition which maps to the pericentromeric region of chromosome 20. Mutations in the VSX1 transcription factor have been reported in patients affected with PPCD, keratoconus, or a combination of both phenotypes. However, no mutation was identified in the coding region of VSX1 in the family used for the original mapping. To clarify the genetic basis of PPCD1, a thorough analysis was performed on the original PPCD1 family and two other PPCD1-linked families. As part of the analysis, the expression profile, transcript variants, and evolutionary conserved regions of VSX1, a key candidate gene within the linkage interval, were characterized.
Methods: Haplotype analysis was performed using highly informative markers on the pericentromeric region of chromosome 20. VSX1 transcript variants were identified using RT-PCR and characterized by 3'RACE assay. Temporal expression profile of VSX1 was evaluated using semi-quantitative real-time RT-PCR on human tissues. Evolutionary conserved regions (ECRs) were identified in the vicinity of VSX1 using publicly available sequence alignments (UCSC and rVista) and sequenced for mutation analysis.
Results: Recombination events were identified that narrow the PPCD1-disease interval from 20 to 16.44 cM. This smaller interval includes the CHED1 locus and a recently described PPCD locus in Czech families. The three strongest candidate genes of the PPCD1-CHED1 overlap region (RBBP9, ZNF133, SLC24A3) did not show any mutations in our PPCD1-linked families. Semi-quantitative real-time RT-PCR detected VSX1 expression in neonatal human cornea. Six transcript variants of VSX1 were characterized. Four of the transcript variants spliced to two novel exons downstream of the gene. Mutation analysis of the PPCD1-linked families did not reveal any mutations in the full genomic sequence of VSX1 (considering all splice variants) or in the six cis- regulatory modules predicted in the vicinity of VSX1 (100 kb).
Conclusions: This is the first documentation of VSX1 expression in human neonatal cornea. We provide evidence for genetic heterogeneity of chromosome 20-related PPCD and refinement of the original PPCD1 interval. The full genomic sequence of VSX1 and coding exons of three other candidate genes were excluded from being pathogenic in the original PPCD1 family.