ASN's Mission

To create a world without kidney diseases, the ASN Alliance for Kidney Health elevates care by educating and informing, driving breakthroughs and innovation, and advocating for policies that create transformative changes in kidney medicine throughout the world.

learn more

Contact ASN

1401 H St, NW, Ste 900, Washington, DC 20005

email@asn-online.org

202-640-4660

The Latest on X

Kidney Week

Please note that you are viewing an archived section from 2019 and some content may be unavailable. To unlock all content for 2019, please visit the archives.

Abstract: SA-PO1173

Missense Mutations in PKD1 Lead to Reduced Surface Localization of the Polycystins in ADPKD

Session Information

Category: Genetic Diseases of the Kidneys

  • 1001 Genetic Diseases of the Kidneys: Cystic

Author

    Group or Team Name

    • Sanjna Girdhar. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
    Background

    Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD), characterized by the development of fluid filled cysts, is the fourth leading cause of renal failure in the US and is mainly caused by mutations in the genes PKD1 or PKD2 encoding the proteins Polycystin1 (PC1) and Polycystin2
    (PC2) respectively. Localization of PC1 and PC2 to the cell surface is important for their function in cells, with a positive correlation between reduced surface protein levels to disease severity. The objective of this project was to quantify surface localization of a number of missense variant PC1 proteins, and combination of variants.

    Methods

    The single PC1 variants (p.Arg3277Cys, p.Met3346Leu, and p.Thr3270Met) were created by site directed mutagenesis and introduced into the full length PC1 tagged construct. In addition, variant combinations were similarly generated (p.Thr3270Met/p.Arg3277Cys, p.Met3346Leu/p.Thr3270Met, and p.Arg3277Cys/p.Met3346Leu/p.Thr3270Met), mimicking a variant combination detected in three ADPKD families. Epithelial cells from the kidney were transfected with constructs containing these single and combination variants. Immunofluorescence staining of the transfected cells was used to visualize the surface localized proteins.

    Results

    The intensity of the immunofluorescence signal, as determined by flow cytometry, indicated the amount of protein properly localizing to the cell membrane. The single variants were found to have reduced surface localization compared to wild type, with the surface localization further lowered as the number of significant variants increased.

    Conclusion

    Therefore an in cis combination of missense variants can significantly reduce PC1 surface localization, showing that a combination of hypomorphic alleles can result in a fully inactivating allele.