TGFB2

Pathology

 TGFB2 mutations cause familial thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections associated with mild systemic features of Marfan syndrome.

• A predisposition for thoracic aortic aneurysms leading to acute aortic dissections can be inherited in families in an autosomal dominant manner.
• Genome-wide linkage analysis of two large unrelated families with thoracic aortic disease followed by whole-exome sequencing of affected relatives identified causative mutations in TGFB2.
• These mutations-a frameshift mutation in exon 6 and a nonsense mutation in exon 4-segregated with disease with a combined logarithm of odds (LOD) score of 7.7.
• Sanger sequencing of 276 probands from families with inherited thoracic aortic disease identified 2 additional TGFB2 mutations.
• TGFB2 encodes transforming growth factor (TGF)-β2, and the mutations are predicted to cause haploinsufficiency for TGFB2; however, aortic tissue from cases paradoxically shows increased TGF-β2 expression and immunostaining.
• Thus, haploinsufficiency for TGFB2 predisposes to thoracic aortic disease, suggesting that the initial pathway driving disease is decreased cellular TGF-β2 levels leading to a secondary increase in TGF-β2 production in the diseased aorta.

TGFB2 mutations cause familial thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections associated with mild systemic features of Marfan syndrome.

References

 Boileau C, Guo DC, Hanna N, Regalado ES, Detaint D, Gong L, Varret M, Prakash SK, Li AH, d’Indy H, Braverman AC, Grandchamp B, Kwartler CS, Gouya L, Santos-Cortez RL, Abifadel M, Leal SM, Muti C, Shendure J, Gross MS, Rieder MJ, Vahanian A, Nickerson DA, Michel JB; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Go Exome Sequencing Project, Jondeau G, Milewicz DM. Nat Genet. 2012 Jul 8;44(8):916-21. doi : 10.1038/ng.2348 PMID: 22772371