The molecular basis of cystinuria: an update

Cystinuria is a hereditary disorder of cystine and dibasic amino acid transport across the luminal membrane of renal proximal tubule and small intestine. In 1992, a cDNA (rBAT) was isolated from kidney which induced high-affinity, sodium-independent uptake of cystine and dibasic amino acids when expressed in Xenopus oocytes. The rBAT gene was mapped to a region of chromosome 2p known to contain a cystinuria locus, and rBAT expression was demonstrated in the straight (S3) portion of renal proximal tubule and small intestine. Over 30 distinct rBAT mutations have been described in patients who inherit two fully recessive (type I) cystinuria genes. Recently, the second cystinuria gene (SLC7A9) on chromosome 19q was identified; SLC7A9 mutations were shown to cause the incompletely recessive form of cystinuria (types II and III). Patients who inherit two mutant SLC7A9 genes have recurrent nephrolithiasis comparable to those with two rBAT mutations. In some cystinuria families, patients inherit a fully recessive allele from one parent and an incompletely recessive allele from the other parent; patients with this 'mixed type' of cystinuria have somewhat milder disease. It is not yet clear whether this form of cystinuria involves rBAT as well as SLC7A9 mutations. Current evidence suggests that the transmembrane channel mediating uptake of cystine and dibasic amino acids at the luminal surface is encoded by SLC7A9; the smaller rBAT protein forms a heterodimeric complex with this channel and is critical for its targetting to the luminal membrane.