Summary
Factor V (FV) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive haemorrhagic disorder associated
with moderate to severe bleeding symptoms. Conventional mutational screening leads
to a complete molecular genetic diagnosis only in about 80–90% of cases. Large gene
rearrangements, which could explain at least part of the “missing alleles” have not
been reported so far in FV-deficient patients. In this work, we investigated a family
with hereditary FV deficiency, in which the proband is compound heterozygous for a
205-Kb deletion, involving the first seven exons of F5, and the entire selectin P, L, and E genes, and for a novel splicing mutation (IVS12+5G>A).
The deletion breakpoints, determined by using a combination of semi-quantitative real-time
PCR and long PCR assays, occurred within AluY repeat sequences, suggesting an Alu-mediated
unequal homologous recombination as the mechanism responsible for the deletion. The
in vitro characterisation of the IVS12+5G>A mutation demonstrated that this mutation causes
the skipping of exon 12 and the activation of a cryptic splice site. Low levels of
residual wild-type splicing were also detectable, in agreement with the notion that
the complete absence of FV may be not compatible with life.
Keywords
Coagulation factor V - factor V deficiency - large deletion - Alu sequence - splicing
mutation