Novel mutations in the lipase H gene lead to secretion defects of LIPH in Chinese patients with autosomal recessive woolly hair/hypotrichosis (ARWH/HT).

Autosomal recessive woolly hair/hypotrichosis (ARWH/HT: OMIM #278150/604379) is a rare hereditary hair disease characterized by tightly curled hair at birth which can lead to sparse hair later in life. The mutations in both LIPH and LPAR6/P2RY5 are responsible for autosomal recessive woolly hair with or without hypotrichosis (ARWH/HT). To conduct clinical and genetic investigations in four patients from three unrelated Chinese Han families with ARWH/HT, we performed mutation screening of LIPH and LPAR6/P2RY5 gene and identified four mutations in LIPH: c.454G>A, c.614A>G, c.736T>A, c.742C>A. c.736T>A and c.742C>A mutations were reported in previous studies, and c.454G>A, c.614A>G were identified for the first time. We carried out functional studies of the two mutants with c.454G>A (p.Gly152Arg, G152R) or c.614A>G (p.His205Arg, H205R). Interestingly, both of them lead to secretion defects of LIPH, which are involved in the pathogenesis of ARWH/HT.