Delayed triple-helix formation of abnormal type I collagen is corrected by reduced temperature. Studies of a family with variable expression of osteogenesis imperfecta

Phenotypic variability and abnormal type I collagen unstable at body temperature in a family with mild dominant osteogenesis imperfecta

Autosomal dominant inheritance of a mild form of osteogenesis imperfecta (osteogenesis imperfecta type I) with different phenotypic expression was found in a family. Phenotypic expression was different for the affected mother and son, in the presence of the same biochemical results. Dermal fibroblast cultures synthesized normal and mutant type I collagen alpha chains. Collagen heterotrimers containing abnormal chains were overmodified along the entire triple helical domain and showed an unusually low denaturation temperature, so far found only in lethal cases. The mild phenotype in the family is probably due to the fact that abnormal type I collagen molecules are more likely to be degraded than utilized in the extracellular matrix.

Clinical variability of osteogenesis imperfecta linked to COL1A2 and associated with a structural defect in the type I collagen molecule

We report a family in which dominant osteogenesis imperfecta segregates with a COL1A2 haplotype and is associated with a structural defect in the helical region of the type I procollagen molecule. All affected subjects had short stature, dentinogenesis imperfecta, and myopia; however, great differences were observed in the number of fractures and in the degree of bone deformity. Identical biochemical changes were found in the type I collagen molecules synthesised by fibroblasts of subjects with severe or minimal bone fragility. These results confirm that mutations in the triple helical region of alpha 2(I) chains produce a milder phenotype than analogous mutations in the alpha 1(I) chains, but indicate that, in addition to defects in the type I collagen molecule, other factors may modulate the degree of bone involvement in osteogenesis imperfecta.