The CFTR gene variants in Japanese children with idiopathic pancreatitis

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene has been reported as one of the pancreatitis susceptibility genes. Although many variants of CFTR have been reported in Caucasian patients, there are few data in Japanese patients. We aimed to survey CFTR variants in Japanese children with idiopathic pancreatitis. Twenty-eight Japanese paediatric patients with idiopathic pancreatitis were enroled, who were not previously diagnosed by genetic analysis of PRSS1 and SPINK1. The entire CFTR gene was sequenced in the patients by combining LA-PCR and next-generation sequencing analysis. To determine a splice-affecting variant, CFTR expression was investigated in the nasal epithelial cells by RT-PCR. One (3.6%) and 15 (53.6%) of 28 patients had pathogenic and functionally affected variants in the CFTR gene, respectively. Two variants, p.Arg352Gln and p.Arg1453Trp, were found more frequently in the patients compared with one in Japanese healthy controls (p = 0.0078 and 0.044, respectively). We confirmed skipping of exon 10 in the nasal epithelial cells in one patient having a splice-affecting variant (c.1210-12 T(5)) in intron 9. Functionally affected variants of the CFTR gene are not so rare in Japanese paediatric patients with idiopathic pancreatitis. Surveying CFTR gene variants in a Japanese sample could help identify pancreatitis risk in these children.