Overview

Pathogenicity: Alzheimer's Disease : Not Classified
ACMG/AMP Pathogenicity Criteria: PS3, PM1, PM2, PP2, PP3
Clinical Phenotype: Alzheimer's Disease, Spastic Paraparesis
Position: (GRCh38/hg38):Chr14:73198094 G>C
Position: (GRCh37/hg19):Chr14:73664802 G>C
dbSNP ID: rs63749891
Coding/Non-Coding: Coding
DNA Change: Substitution
Expected RNA Consequence: Substitution
Expected Protein Consequence: Missense
Codon Change: AGA to ACA
Reference Isoform: PSEN1 Isoform 1 (467 aa)
Genomic Region: Exon 8

Findings

This mutation was found in one individual in a screen of the PSEN1 and PSEN2 genes of 11 families with early onset dementia (Kwok et al., 1997). The age of onset for this case was 37 years. Members of this family suffered from spastic paraparesis.

This variant was absent from the gnomAD variant database (gnomAD v2.1.1, July 2021).

Neuropathology
Neuropathology consistent with AD was detected in a brain biopsy.

Biological Effect

Cell-based assays that surveyed Aβ production detail revealed decreases in the Aβ (37 + 38 + 40) / (42 + 43) ratio and the Aβ37/Aβ42 ratio, both of which reflect γ-processivity, compared with cells expressing wildtype PSEN1 (Apr 2022 news; Petit et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2022). The two ratios were reported to outperform the Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio as indicators of AD pathogenicity, with the former correlating with AD age at onset. This variant also increased the Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio twofold and the levels of toxic Aβ43 nearly 10-fold compared with wildtype PSEN1.

Of note, another mutation at this site, R278I, has been classified as pathogenic. Moreover, a cryo-electron microscopy study of the atomic structure of γ-secretase bound to an APP fragment, showed that R278 appears to play a key role in stabilizing the hybrid β-sheet that forms between PSEN1 and APP in preparation for APP cleavage (Zhou et al., 2019; Jan 2019 news). Moreover, several in silico algorithms (SIFT, Polyphen-2, LRT, MutationTaster, MutationAssessor, FATHMM, PROVEAN, CADD, REVEL, and Reve in the VarCards database) predicted this variant is damaging (Xiao et al., 2021). These authors classified the variant as likely pathogenic using the ACMG-AMP guidelines (Richards et al., 2015).

Pathogenicity

Alzheimer's Disease : Not Classified*

*This variant fulfilled some ACMG-AMP criteria, but it was not classified by Alzforum, because data for either a pathogenic or benign classification are lacking: only one affected carrier has been reported without co-segregation data, and the variant is absent—or very rare—in the gnomAD database.

This variant fulfilled the following criteria based on the ACMG/AMP guidelines. See a full list of the criteria in the Methods page.

PS3-S

Well-established in vitro or in vivo functional studies supportive of a damaging effect on the gene or gene product.

PM1-S

Located in a mutational hot spot and/or critical and well-established functional domain (e.g. active site of an enzyme) without benign variation. R278T: Variant is in a mutational hot spot and cryo-EM data suggest residue is of functional importance.

PM2-M

Absent from controls (or at extremely low frequency if recessive) in Exome Sequencing Project, 1000 Genomes Project, or Exome Aggregation Consortium. *Alzforum uses the gnomAD variant database.

PP2-P

Missense variant in a gene that has a low rate of benign missense variation and where missense variants are a common mechanism of disease.

PP3-P

Multiple lines of computational evidence support a deleterious effect on the gene or gene product (conservation, evolutionary, splicing impact, etc.). *In most cases, Alzforum applies this criterion when the variant’s PHRED-scaled CADD score is greater than or equal to 20.

	Pathogenic (PS, PM, PP)			Benign (BA, BS, BP)
Criteria Weighting	Strong (-S)	Moderate (-M)	Supporting (-P)	Supporting (-P)	Strong (-S)	Strongest (BA)

Last Updated: 28 Feb 2024

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References

News Citations

Mutations Citations

Paper Citations

Kwok JB, Taddei K, Hallupp M, Fisher C, Brooks WS, Broe GA, Hardy J, Fulham MJ, Nicholson GA, Stell R, St George Hyslop PH, Fraser PE, Kakulas B, Clarnette R, Relkin N, Gandy SE, Schofield PR, Martins RN. Two novel (M233T and R278T) presenilin-1 mutations in early-onset Alzheimer's disease pedigrees and preliminary evidence for association of presenilin-1 mutations with a novel phenotype. Neuroreport. 1997 Apr 14;8(6):1537-42. PubMed.
Petit D, Fernández SG, Zoltowska KM, Enzlein T, Ryan NS, O'Connor A, Szaruga M, Hill E, Vandenberghe R, Fox NC, Chávez-Gutiérrez L. Aβ profiles generated by Alzheimer's disease causing PSEN1 variants determine the pathogenicity of the mutation and predict age at disease onset. Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Jun;27(6):2821-2832. Epub 2022 Apr 1 PubMed.
Liu L, Lauro BM, He A, Lee H, Bhattarai S, Wolfe MS, Bennett DA, Karch CM, Young-Pearse T, Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN), Selkoe DJ. Identification of the Aβ37/42 peptide ratio in CSF as an improved Aβ biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Dement. 2022 Mar 12; PubMed.
Zhou R, Yang G, Guo X, Zhou Q, Lei J, Shi Y. Recognition of the amyloid precursor protein by human γ-secretase. Science. 2019 Feb 15;363(6428) Epub 2019 Jan 10 PubMed.
Xiao X, Liu H, Liu X, Zhang W, Zhang S, Jiao B. APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2 Variants in Alzheimer's Disease: Systematic Re-evaluation According to ACMG Guidelines. Front Aging Neurosci. 2021;13:695808. Epub 2021 Jun 18 PubMed.
Richards S, Aziz N, Bale S, Bick D, Das S, Gastier-Foster J, Grody WW, Hegde M, Lyon E, Spector E, Voelkerding K, Rehm HL, ACMG Laboratory Quality Assurance Committee. Standards and guidelines for the interpretation of sequence variants: a joint consensus recommendation of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the Association for Molecular Pathology. Genet Med. 2015 May;17(5):405-24. Epub 2015 Mar 5 PubMed.

Mutations

PSEN1 R278T

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