Novel p.Ile151Val mutation in VCP in a patient of African American descent with sporadic ALS

Abstract

The valosin containing protein (VCP) is a member of the AAA-ATPase family, a group of enzymatic molecular chaperones that have been associated with a range of cellular processes including ubiquitin-proteasome mediated degradation, membrane fusion, apoptosis, cell-cycle control, and autophagy.1 Mutations in VCP were first identified to cause familial inclusion body myopathy with early-onset Paget disease and frontotemporal dementia2 (IBMPFD) and more recently were found to be implicated in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).3 It was suggested that VCP mutations may account for 1%–2% of familial ALS cases.3 Whether VCP mutations also contribute to sporadic ALS (SALS), however, has not yet been studied. Here, we report the identification of a novel p.Ile151Val mutation in VCP in a patient of African American descent with SALS. ### Case report. In the course of screening patients with ALS ascertained by the ALS Center at Mayo Clinic Florida (MCF) for mutations in the known ALS genes ( SOD1 , TARDBP , FUS , OPTN , and VCP ), we identified an African American patient with the c.451A>G mutation in exon 5 of VCP predicted to result in the p.Ile151Val substitution. Mutations were excluded in all other exons and genes analyzed in this patient. The VCP p.Ile151Val mutation was not previously reported in dbSNP or the 1000 Genomes databases and genotyping using a custom-designed ABI Taqman assay excluded this mutation from 407 healthy African American controls obtained from MCF (n = 317) and the Coriell Institute for Medical Research (n …