TTC7A missense variants in intestinal disease can be classified by molecular and cellular phenotypes

Biallelic mutations in tetratricopeptide repeat domain 7A (TTC7A) give rise to intestinal and immune disorders. However, our understanding of the genotype-phenotype relationship is limited, because TTC7A variants are mostly compound heterozygous and the disease phenotypes are highly diverse. This study aims to clarify how different TTC7A variants impact the severity of intestinal epithelial disorders. We individually characterized the molecular and cellular consequences of 11 different TTC7A missense mutations in TTC7A knockout Caco-2 cells. We examined variant-specific RNA expression profiles, TTC7A protein abundance, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress by using RNA sequencing and imaging flow cytometry. For six variants we detected no significant alterations on these assays, suggesting that protein function may not be severely compromised. However, for five variants we observed molecular phenotypes, with overlapping gene expression signatures between specific variants. Remarkably, the TTC7AE71K variant displayed a unique expression profile, along with reduced TTC7A RNA and protein expression, which set it apart from all other variants. The findings from this study offer a better understanding of the role of specific TTC7A variants in disease and provide a framework for the classification of the variants based on the severity of impact. We propose a classification system for TTC7A variants that could help diagnosis, guide future treatment decisions and may aid in developing effective molecular therapies for patients that carry specific TTC7A variants.