PLoS ONE (Aug 2010)

Mutational characterization of the bile acid receptor TGR5 in primary sclerosing cholangitis.

  • Johannes R Hov,
  • Verena Keitel,
  • Jon K Laerdahl,
  • Lina Spomer,
  • Eva Ellinghaus,
  • Abdou ElSharawy,
  • Espen Melum,
  • Kirsten M Boberg,
  • Thomas Manke,
  • Tobias Balschun,
  • Christoph Schramm,
  • Annika Bergquist,
  • Tobias Weismüller,
  • Daniel Gotthardt,
  • Christian Rust,
  • Liesbet Henckaerts,
  • Clive M Onnie,
  • Rinse K Weersma,
  • Martina Sterneck,
  • Andreas Teufel,
  • Heiko Runz,
  • Adolf Stiehl,
  • Cyriel Y Ponsioen,
  • Cisca Wijmenga,
  • Morten H Vatn,
  • IBSEN Study Group,
  • Pieter C F Stokkers,
  • Severine Vermeire,
  • Christopher G Mathew,
  • Benedicte A Lie,
  • Ulrich Beuers,
  • Michael P Manns,
  • Stefan Schreiber,
  • Erik Schrumpf,
  • Dieter Häussinger,
  • Andre Franke,
  • Tom H Karlsen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012403
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 8
p. e12403

Abstract

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TGR5, the G protein-coupled bile acid receptor 1 (GPBAR1), has been linked to inflammatory pathways as well as bile homeostasis, and could therefore be involved in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) a chronic inflammatory bile duct disease. We aimed to extensively investigate TGR5 sequence variation in PSC, as well as functionally characterize detected variants.Complete resequencing of TGR5 was performed in 267 PSC patients and 274 healthy controls. Six nonsynonymous mutations were identified in addition to 16 other novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms. To investigate the impact from the nonsynonymous variants on TGR5, we created a receptor model, and introduced mutated TGR5 constructs into human epithelial cell lines. By using confocal microscopy, flow cytometry and a cAMP-sensitive luciferase assay, five of the nonsynonymous mutations (W83R, V178M, A217P, S272G and Q296X) were found to reduce or abolish TGR5 function. Fine-mapping of the previously reported PSC and UC associated locus at chromosome 2q35 in large patient panels revealed an overall association between the TGR5 single-nucleotide polymorphism rs11554825 and PSC (odds ratio = 1.14, 95% confidence interval: 1.03-1.26, p = 0.010) and UC (odds ratio = 1.19, 95% confidence interval 1.11-1.27, p = 8.5 x 10(-7)), but strong linkage disequilibrium precluded demarcation of TGR5 from neighboring genes.Resequencing of TGR5 along with functional investigations of novel variants provided unique insight into an important candidate gene for several inflammatory and metabolic conditions. While significant TGR5 associations were detected in both UC and PSC, further studies are needed to conclusively define the role of TGR5 variation in these diseases.