A novel missense mutation in a Japanese patient with gelatinous droplike corneal dystrophy

Abstract

To report a novel missense mutation in TACSTD2 gene, L186P, responsible for gelatinous droplike dystrophy (GDLD). Case report and experimental study. A 10-year-old Japanese boy suffering from typical GDLD was studied. A 1.1-kb DNA fragment of the TACSTD2 gene was amplified and analyzed using a molecular biological method. cDNA from the patient's cornea was also analyzed to determine which allele was expressed in the patient's corneal epithelium. Sequence analysis revealed that the patient is a compound heterozygote for the Q118X mutation and the L186P, the first missense mutation found in Japanese GDLD. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis from cDNA of patient's cornea revealed that the L186P missense mutation allele is expressed in the patient's corneal epithelium. We describe a novel mutation in one case of Japanese GDLD. The results confirm that the missense mutation L186P in the TACSTD2 gene is also responsible for the GDLD phenotype.