Two Novel Missense Mutations in G Protein-Coupled Receptor 54 in a Patient with Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism

It has recently been shown that loss-of-function mutations of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPR)54 lead to isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) in mice and humans. Such mutations are thought to be rare, even within the clinical IHH population, and only a handful of alleles have been described, making further screening of IHH populations imperative. We examined the genes encoding GPR54 and its putative endogenous ligand, kisspeptin-1, for mutations in a cohort of 30 patients with normosmic HH or delayed puberty. One subject with HH, of mixed Turkish-Cypriot and Afro-Caribbean ancestry, was found to be a compound heterozygote for two previously undescribed missense mutations in GPR54: cysteine 223 to arginine (C223R) in the fifth transmembrane helix and arginine 297 to leucine (R297L) in the third extracellular loop. Assessed in vitro using a previously described sensitive signaling assay in cells stably expressing GPR54, the C223R variant was found to exhibit profoundly impaired signaling, whereas the R297L variant showed a mild reduction in ligand-stimulated activity across the ligand dose range. These novel mutations provide further evidence that human HH may be caused by loss-of-function mutations in GPR54.