RNF213 as the major susceptibility gene for Chinese patients with moyamoya disease and its clinical relevance

OBJECTIVE Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a rare, genetically heterogeneous cerebrovascular disease. The authors conducted a genetic study of really interesting new gene (RING) finger protein 213 ( RNF213); actin alpha 2 ( ACTA2); BRCA1/BRCA2-containing complex subunit 3 ( BRCC3); and guanylate cyclase 1, soluble, alpha 3 ( GUCY1A3) as well as a clinical phenotype analysis in Chinese MMD patients to determine whether genetic differences are responsible for the different clinical features that appear in MMD in different ethnicities. METHODS A panel was designed to identify disease-causing mutations in MMD genes and those involved in related disorders ( RNF213, ACTA2, BRCC3, and GUCY1A3). The panel was used to detect disease-causing mutations in 255 Chinese MMD patients. Genotype and allele frequencies were compared between patients and 300 controls. A mutation segregation analysis was performed in 34 families, and genotype-phenotype correlations were made. RESULTS Twenty-seven rare missense variants of RNF213 were identified and were not found in controls. Among them, p.R4810K was identified in 31.4% of patients (80 of 255) with MMD. Significantly higher frequencies of the A allele and G/A genotype of p.R4810K were observed in MMD patients compared with controls (χ2 = 104.166, p < 0.000). Twenty-five rare variants were identified in 10.6% of patients (27 of 255) without p.R4810K variants. Segregation analysis supported an association between MMD and 3 variants. No possible disease-causing mutations were identified in ACTA2, BRCC3, or GUCY1A3. Compared with patients without the rare variants in RNF213, the p.R4810K heterozygous patients were younger at diagnosis (25 vs 29 years old, p = 0.049) and had more familial cases (24% vs 4.4%, p = 0.000), ischemic cases (81.3% vs 67.5%, p = 0.037), and involvement of the posterior cerebral artery (52% vs 32.5%, p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS RNF213 is the major susceptibility gene in Chinese MMD patients. The spectrum of rare variants identified in Chinese MMD patients was diverse. Compared to patients without the rare variants in RNF213, the p.R4810K heterozygous patients exhibited different clinical features.