Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 33(106), p. 13921-13926, 2009

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0901219106

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Epistasis between RET and BBS mutations modulates enteric innervation and causes syndromic Hirschsprung disease.

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Red circle
Preprint: archiving forbidden
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) is a common, multigenic neurocristopathy characterized by incomplete innervation along a variable length of the gut. The pivotal gene in isolated HSCR cases, either sporadic or familial, is RET . HSCR also presents in various syndromes, including Shah–Waardenburg syndrome (WS), Down (DS), and Bardet–Biedl (BBS). Here, we report 3 families with BBS and HSCR with concomitant mutations in BBS genes and regulatory RET elements, whose functionality is tested in physiologically relevant assays. Our data suggest that BBS mutations can potentiate HSCR predisposing RET alleles, which by themselves are insufficient to cause disease. We also demonstrate that these genes interact genetically in vivo to modulate gut innervation, and that this interaction likely occurs through complementary, yet independent, pathways that converge on the same biological process.