1. Academic Validation
  2. Biallelic HEPHL1 variants impair ferroxidase activity and cause an abnormal hair phenotype

Biallelic HEPHL1 variants impair ferroxidase activity and cause an abnormal hair phenotype

  • PLoS Genet. 2019 May 24;15(5):e1008143. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008143.
Prashant Sharma 1 2 Marie Reichert 1 2 Yan Lu 3 Thomas C Markello 1 2 4 David R Adams 1 2 Peter J Steinbach 5 Brie K Fuqua 6 Xenia Parisi 1 2 Stephen G Kaler 7 Christopher D Vulpe 8 Gregory J Anderson 3 William A Gahl 1 2 4 May Christine V Malicdan 1 2
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program, Common Fund, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
  • 2 Office of the Clinical Director, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
  • 3 Iron Metabolism Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
  • 4 Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
  • 5 Center for Molecular Modeling, Center for Information Technology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
  • 6 Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, United States of America.
  • 7 Section on Translational Neuroscience, Molecular Medicine Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
  • 8 Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, Department of Physiological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America.
Abstract

Maintenance of the correct redox status of iron is functionally important for critical biological processes. Multicopper ferroxidases play an important role in oxidizing ferrous iron, released from the cells, into ferric iron, which is subsequently distributed by transferrin. Two well-characterized ferroxidases, ceruloplasmin (CP) and hephaestin (HEPH) facilitate this reaction in different tissues. Recently, a novel ferroxidase, Hephaestin like 1 (HEPHL1), also known as zyklopen, was identified. Here we report a child with compound heterozygous mutations in HEPHL1 (NM_001098672) who presented with abnormal hair (pili torti and trichorrhexis nodosa) and cognitive dysfunction. The maternal missense mutation affected mRNA splicing, leading to skipping of exon 5 and causing an in-frame deletion of 85 Amino acids (c.809_1063del; p.Leu271_ala355del). The paternal mutation (c.3176T>C; p.Met1059Thr) changed a highly conserved methionine that is part of a typical type I copper binding site in HEPHL1. We demonstrated that HEPHL1 has ferroxidase activity and that the patient's two mutations exhibited loss of this ferroxidase activity. Consistent with these findings, the patient's fibroblasts accumulated intracellular iron and exhibited reduced activity of the copper-dependent Enzyme, lysyl oxidase. These results suggest that the patient's biallelic variants are loss-of-function mutations. Hence, we generated a Hephl1 knockout mouse model that was viable and had curly whiskers, consistent with the hair phenotype in our patient. These results enhance our understanding of the function of HEPHL1 and implicate altered ferroxidase activity in hair growth and hair disorders.

Figures