Unique and recurrent WAS gene mutations in Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and X-linked thrombocytopenia

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) and X-linked thrombocytopenia (XLT) are allelic phenotypes caused by defects of the WAS gene. Fourteen distinct mutations including seven novel gene defects in 16 WAS and four XLT patients were identified by single strand conformation polymorphism analysis and DNA sequencing of the WAS gene. Eleven (79%) of these mutations are located within exons 1 to 4 with clustering in exon 2. Carrier detection in 33 at-risk females and prenatal diagnosis at 12 weeks gestation in one family with a novel WAS mutation was performed by direct mutation analysis. A remarkably high frequency (72%) of point mutations involved CpG dinucleotides. C-->T or G-->A transitions at CpG sites were identified in all isolated WAS cases (n = 7). Allele frequencies for the dinucleotide repeat at locus DXS6940 were determined in Northern European, African and Asian populations. Mutation screening alone or in combination with analysis of polymorphic loci DXS6940 and DXS255 delineated the germline origin of a unique insertion mutation and four recurrent CpG mutations, three of which arose spontaneously during maternal gametogenesis.