Hypofibrinogenaemia with compound heterozygosity for two gamma chain mutations - gamma 82 Ala-->Gly and an intron two...

We investigated the molecular basis of hypofibrinogenaemia in a woman with a history of recurrent, pregnancy-associated bleeding, and miscarriage. She had a Clauss fibrinogen of 0.9 mg/ml and SDS PAGE of purified fibrinogen showed a normal pattern of chains. However careful inspection of reverse phase chain separation profiles showed apparent homozygosity for a more hydrophilic form of the gamma chain. DNA Sequencing showed only heterozygosity for a CGT-->GGT (Ala-->Gly) mutation at codon gamma82, but further sequencing showed an additional GT splice sequence mutation at the 5' end of intron 2 of the gamma gene. Translation of mRNA containing this intron would result in premature truncation explaining the phenotypic homozygosity of the gamma82 Ala-->Gly substitution. The patient's sister had a mild bleeding disorder with hypofibrinogenaemia and she too was a compound heterozygote for the y mutations. Her nephew had only the novel splice site mutation, while her mother and daughter inherited only the gamma82 Ala-->Gly substitution.