SummaryWe analyzed the molecular genetic defect responsible for type I Glanzmann’s thrombasthenia in a Japanese patient. In an immunoblot assay using polyclonal anti-GPIIb-IIIa antibodies, some GPIIIa (15% of normal amount) could be detected in the patient’s platelets, whereas GPIIb could not (<2% of normal amount). Nucleotide sequence analysis of platelet GPIIb mRNA-derived polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products revealed that patient’s GPIIb cDNA had a 75-bp deletion in the 3’ boundary of exon 17 resulting in an in-frame deletion of 25 amino acids. DNA analysis and family study revealed that the patient was a compound heterozygote of two GPIIb gene defects. One allele derived from her father was not expressed in platelets, and the other allele derived from her mother had a 9644C → T mutation which was located at the position -3 of the splice donor junction of exon 17 and resulted in a termination codon (TGA). Moreover, quantitative analysis demonstrated that the amount of the abnormal GPIIb transcript in the patient’s platelets was markedly reduced. Thus, the C → T mutation resulting in the abnormal splicing of GPIIb transcript and the reduction in its amount is responsible for Glanzmann’s thrombasthenia.
Immunoblot Assay is Still Useful For the Serological Diagnosis of Autoimmune Bullous Dermatosis