SETTING: Cohort study.
PARTICIPANTS: Twelve biologically unrelated Malaysian-Chinese patients with congenital hypothyroidism were recruited in this study. All patients showed high thyrotropin and low free thyroxine levels at the time of diagnosis with proven presence of a thyroid gland.
PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Screening of the c.2268dup mutation in the TPO gene in all patients was carried out using a PCR-direct DNA sequencing method.
SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Further screening for mutations in other exonic regions of the TPO gene was carried out if the patient was a carrier of the c.2268dup mutation.
RESULTS: The c.2268dup mutation was detected in 4 of the 12 patients. Apart from the c.2268dup and a previously documented mutation (c.2647C>T), two novel TPO alterations, c.670_672del and c.1186C>T, were also detected in our patients. In silico analyses predicted that the novel alterations affect the structure/function of the TPO protein.
CONCLUSIONS: The c.2268dup mutation was detected in approximately one-third of the Malaysian-Chinese patients with thyroid dyshormonogenesis. The detection of the novel c.670_672del and c.1186C>T alterations expand the mutation spectrum of TPO associated with thyroid dyshormonogenesis.