Pulmonary Hypertension in Scleroderma


E-chocardiography Journal: Alphabetical List / Chronological List / Images / Home Page


J Rheumatol. 2002 Nov;29(11):2379-81.
Pulmonary hypertension in scleroderma spectrum of disease: lack of bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2 mutations.
Morse J, Barst R, Horn E, Cuervo N, Deng Z, Knowles J.
Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. jhm4@columbia.edu

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether mutations in the bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2 gene (BMPR2), initially reported in primary pulmonary hypertension, were present in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and scleroderma spectrum of disease. Methods. BMPR2 gene mutations were determined using nucleic acid sequencing in 24 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and scleroderma spectrum of disease and in 2 control groups, 96 healthy North American individuals and 100 Israeli Ashkenazi Jews. The patients also had antinuclear antibody determinations and underwent right heart catheterization. RESULTS: One BMPR2 guanine to adenine (G to A) mutation in exon 13 was found in a 59-year-old Ashkenazi Jewish woman with the limited cutaneous variant, a normal chest radiograph, and positive anticentromere and rheumatoid factor autoantibodies. However, this mutation is thought to be a polymorphism because the same mutation was also found in an ethnically matched healthy Ashkenazi Jew. CONCLUSION: Pulmonary arterial hypertension in scleroderma spectrum of disease was not associated with heterogeneous germline mutations of BMPR2.


Back to E-chocardiography Home Page.


e-mail:shindler@umdnj.edu

The contents and links on this page were last verified on April 2, 2005.