Relevance of Different Cellular Models in Determining the Effects of Mutations on SLC16A2/MCT8 Thyroid Hormone Transporter Function and Genotype-Phenotype Correlation

SLC 16A2, the gene for the second member of the solute carrier family 16 (monocarboxylic acid transporter), located on chromosome Xq13.2, encodes a very efficient thyroid hormone transporter: monocarboxylate transporter 8, MCT8. Its loss of function is responsible in males for a continuum of psychomotor retardation ranging from severe (no motor acquisition, no speech) to mild (ability to walk with help and a few words of speech). Triiodothyronine uptake measurement in transfected cells and, more recently, patient fibroblasts, has been described to study the functional consequences of MCT8 mutations. Here, we describe three novel MCT8 mutations, including one missense variation not clearly predicted to be damaging but found in a severely affected patient. Functional studies in fibroblasts and JEG3 cells demonstrate the usefulness of both cellular models in validating the deleterious effects of a new MCT8 mutation if there is still a doubt as to its pathogenicity. Moreover, the screening of fibroblasts from a large number of patient fibroblasts and of transfected mutations has allowed us to demonstrate that JEG3 transfected cells are more relevant than fibroblasts in revealing a genotype-phenotype correlation. Demonstrating the deleterious effect of new sequence variants is critical for genetic diagnosis. In this paper, we demonstrate that functional studies measuring T3 transport in either patient fibroblasts or in JEG3 transfected cells are very easy and efficient tests in validating deleterious effects of new MCT8 mutations especially if there is still a doubt as to their pathogenicity. Moreover, our work establishes that JEG3 transfected cells are more relevant than fibroblasts in revealing a genotype-phenotype correlation for MCT8 diseases.

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