In vitro proteoglycan sulfation derived from sulfhydryl compounds in sulfate transporter chondrodysplasias.

Mutations in a sulfate-chloride antiporter gene, the diastrophic dysplasia sulfate transporter (DTDST), have been associated with a family of skeletal dysplasias including recessive multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, diastrophic dysplasia (DTD), atelosteogenesis type 2, and achondrogenesis type 1B (ACG1B). DTDST function is crucial for uptake of extracellular sulfate required for proteoglycan (PG) sulfation; the tissue-specific expression of the clinical phenotype may be the consequence of the high rate of PG synthesis in chondrocytes and the ensuing high sulfate requirement. We have studied the contribution of cysteine and its derivatives to PG sulfation in fibroblast and chondrocyte cultures from sulfate transporter dysplasia patients.