Six novel mutations of the LDL receptor gene in FH kindred of Sicilian and Paraguayan descent

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant inherited disease caused by mutations in the gene coding for the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R). It is characterized by a high concentration of low density lipoprotein (LDL), which frequently gives rise to premature coronary artery disease. We studied the probands of five FH Sicilian families with 'definite' FH and one proband of Paraguayan descent with homozygous FH who has been treated with an effective living-donor liver transplantation. In order to seek the molecular defect in these six families, we used direct sequencing to define the molecular defects of the LDL-R gene responsible for the disease. We described three…