The 16-bp duplication in exon 15 of HPS, which we found only in Puerto Rican patients, is associated with a broad range of pigmentation and an increased risk of restrictive lung disease in adults.

Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) comprises a group of genetic disorders characterized by defective lysosome-related organelles. The most common form of HPS (HPS type 1) is caused by mutations in a gene encoding a protein with no homology to any other known protein. Here we report the identification and biochemical characterization of this gene product, termed HPS1p. Endogenous HPS1p was detected in a wide variety of human cell lines and exhibited an electrophoretic mobility corresponding to a protein of ϳ80 kDa. In contrast to previous theoretical analysis predicting that HPS1p is an integral membrane protein, we found that this protein was predominantly cytosolic, with a small amount being peripherally associated with membranes. The sedimentation coefficient of the soluble form of HPS1p was ϳ6 S as inferred from ultracentrifugation on sucrose gradients. HPS1p-deficient cells derived from patients with HPS type 1 displayed normal distribution and trafficking of the lysosomal membrane proteins, CD63 and Lamp-1. This was in contrast to cells from HPS type 2 patients, having mutations in the ␤3A subunit of the AP-3 adaptor complex, which exhibited increased routing of these lysosomal proteins through the plasma membrane. Similar analyses performed on fibroblasts from 10 different mouse models of HPS revealed that only the AP-3 mutants pearl and mocha display increased trafficking of Lamp-1 through the plasma membrane. Taken together, these observations suggest that the product of the HPS1 gene is a cytosolic protein capable of associating with membranes and involved in the biogenesis and/or function of lysosome-related organelles by a mechanism distinct from that dependent on the AP-3 complex.

No abstract

Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) consists of oculocutaneous albinism, a platelet storage-pool deficiency, and ceroid lipofuscinosis. In a recent report on the cloning of an HPS gene, all 22 Puerto Rican HPS patients were homozygous for a 16-bp duplication in exon 15. This presumably reflected a founder effect for the HPS mutation in Puerto Rico. Nevertheless, we ascertained two individuals from central Puerto Rico who lacked the 16-bp duplication, exhibited significant amounts of normal-size HPS mRNA by northern blot analysis, and had haplotypes in the HPS region that were different from the haplotype of every 16-bp-duplication patient. Moreover, these two individuals displayed no mutations in their cDNA sequences, throughout the entire HPS gene. Both patients exhibited pigment dilution, impaired visual acuity, nystagmus, a bleeding diathesis, and absent platelet dense bodies, confirming the diagnosis of HPS. These findings indicate that analysis of Puerto Rican patients for the 16-bp duplication in HPS cannot exclude the diagnosis of HPS. In addition, HPS most likely displays locus heterogeneity, consistent with the existence of several mouse strains manifesting both pigment dilution and a platelet storage-pool deficiency.