FMF 是一种常染色体隐性遗传性疾病,由地中海热 (MEFV) 基因(映射至染色体 16p13.3)突变导致。[16]The International FMF Consortium. Ancient missense mutations in a new member of the RoRet gene family are likely to cause familial Mediterranean fever. Cell. 1997;90:787-807.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9288758?tool=bestpractice.com[17]French FMF Consortium. A candidate gene for familial Mediterranean fever. Nat Genet. 1997;17:25-31.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9288094?tool=bestpractice.com大多数突变位于 10 号外显子上,迄今为止,已发现了 280 多种序列变异。The registry of hereditary auto-inflammatory disorders mutations
即使 FMF 与 M694V、M694I、M680I 和 V726A 等突变间的关联已明确,因这些突变存在于三分之二以上的病例中,故大部分序列变异的意义仍未知。[18]Gershoni-Baruch R, Shinawi M, Leah K, et al. Familial Mediterranean fever: prevalence, penetrance and genetic drift. Eur J Hum Genet. 2001;9:634-637.http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v9/n8/pdf/5200672a.pdfhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11528510?tool=bestpractice.com[19]Brik R, Litmanovich D, Berkowitz D, et al. Incidence of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) mutations among children of Mediterranean extraction with functional abdominal pain. J Pediatr. 2001;138:759-762.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11343058?tool=bestpractice.com证据表明,M694V 纯合突变的患者幼童期发病、关节炎、更频繁发病、类丹毒红斑和淀粉样变性的风险较高。[2]Grateau G. Clinical and genetic aspects of the hereditary periodic fever syndromes. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2004;43:410-415.http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/43/4/410.longhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14983109?tool=bestpractice.com然而,E148Q 氨基酸替代的作用却存在争议,在这种替代中,谷氨酰胺 (Q) 替代谷氨酸 (E)。最初,这个序列变体被描述为导致疾病的突变,外显率低,症状轻。[11]Gershoni-Baruch R, Brik R, Shinawi M, et al. The differential contribution of MEFV mutant alleles to the clinical profile of familial Mediterranean fever. Eur J Hum Genet. 2002;10:145-149.http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v10/n2/full/5200776a.htmlhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11938447?tool=bestpractice.com[20]Aganna E, Hawkins PN, Ozen S, et al. Allelic variants in genes associated with hereditary periodic fever syndromes as susceptibility factors for reactive systemic AA amyloidosis. Genes Immun. 2004;5:289-293.http://www.nature.com/gene/journal/v5/n4/full/6364070a.htmlhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15071491?tool=bestpractice.com[21]Akar N, Akar E, Yalçinkaya F. E148Q of the MEFV gene causes amyloidosis in familial Mediterranean fever patients. Pediatrics. 2001;108:215.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11452963?tool=bestpractice.com然而,一些研究者在近期研究中发现,患者和对照人群的 E148Q 频率相似,因此表明这只不过是良性多态性。目前仍存在争论,特别是由于大量样本的后续研究无法支持 E148Q 是一突变而非多态性的观点。[22]Topaloglu R, Ozaltin F, Yilmaz E, et al. E148Q is a disease-causing MEFV mutation: a phenotypic evaluation in patients with familial Mediterranean fever. Ann Rheum Dis. 2005;64:750-752.http://ard.bmj.com/content/64/5/750.longhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15458961?tool=bestpractice.com[23]Tchernitchko DO, Gérard-Blanluet M, Legendre M, et al. Intrafamilial segregation analysis of the p.E148Q MEFV allele in familial Mediterranean fever. Ann Rheum Dis. 2006;65:1154-1157.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16439437?tool=bestpractice.com[24]Tchernitchko D, Legendre M, Cazeneuve C, et al. The E148Q MEFV allele is not implicated in the development of familial Mediterranean fever. Hum Mutat. 2003;22:339-340.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/humu.9182/pdfhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12955725?tool=bestpractice.com[25]Marek-Yagel D, Bar-Joseph I, Pras E, et al. Is E148Q a benign polymorphism or a disease-causing mutation? J Rheumatol. 2009;36:2372.http://www.jrheum.org/content/36/10/2372.longhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19820229?tool=bestpractice.com[26]Hershko AY, Ben-Chetrit E. The MEFV E148Q allele: a deleterious mutation or harmless variation? Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2006;24(suppl 42):S51-S52.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17067427?tool=bestpractice.com[27]Ben-Chetrit E, Lerer I, Malamud E, et al. The E148Q mutation in the MEFV gene: is it a disease-causing mutation or a sequence variant? Hum Mutat. 2000;15:385-386.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/(SICI)1098-1004(200004)15:4%3C385::AID-HUMU22%3E3.0.CO;2-A/pdfhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10737995?tool=bestpractice.com
基因检测也已证明分离了数世纪的携带者染色体间具有血源关系。[28]Kastner DL. Familial Mediterranean fever: the genetics of inflammation. Hosp Pract (Minneap). 2006;15:131-134.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9562837?tool=bestpractice.com某些情况下,FMF 可能会继续影响多代。这是因为高危人群的携带率高,从而导致假显性遗传(父母一方患有该疾病 + 父母一方为携带者:孩子中有一半会患该疾病)。真显性遗传也已出现在一些家族,但仍非常罕见。[29]Booth DR, Gillmore JD, Lachmann HJ, et al. The genetic basis of autosomal dominant familial Mediterranean fever. QJM. 2000;93:217-221.http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/93/4/217.fullhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10787449?tool=bestpractice.com[30]Aldea A, Campistol JM, Arostegui JI, et al. A severe autosomal-dominant periodic inflammatory disorder with renal AA amyloidosis and colchicine resistance associated to the MEFV H478Y variant in a Spanish kindred: an unusual familial Mediterranean fever phenotype or another MEFV-associated periodic inflammatory disorder? Am J Med Genet A. 2004;124A:67-73.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajmg.a.20296/fullhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14679589?tool=bestpractice.com[31]Stoffels M, Szperl A, Simon A, et al. MEFV mutations affecting pyrin amino acid 577 cause autosomal dominant autoinflammatory disease. Ann Rheum Dis. 2014;73:455-461.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23505238?tool=bestpractice.com
其他考虑因素:
大量 FMF 临床诊断患者无或仅有一种 MEFV 基因突变。[32]Kone-Paut I, Hentgen V, Guillaume-Czitrom S, et al. The clinical spectrum of 94 patients carrying a single mutated MEFV allele. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2009;48:840-842.http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/7/840.longhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19465590?tool=bestpractice.com[33]Marek-Yagel D, Berkun Y, Padeh S, et al. Clinical disease among patients heterozygous for familial Mediterranean fever. Arthritis Rheum. 2009;60:1862-1866.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/art.24570/fullhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19479871?tool=bestpractice.com[34]Moradian MM, Sarkisian T, Ajrapetyan H, et al. Genotype-phenotype studies in a large cohort of Armenian patients with familial Mediterranean fever suggest clinical disease with heterozygous MEFV mutations. J Hum Genet. 2010;55:389-393.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20485448?tool=bestpractice.com[35]Soriano A, Manna R. Familial Mediterranean fever: new phenotypes. Autoimmun Rev. 2012;12:31-37.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22878273?tool=bestpractice.com一些科学和医学理由可解释这种情况,[36]Touitou I. Inheritance of autoinflammatory diseases: shifting paradigms and nomenclature. J Med Genet. 2013;50:349-359.http://jmg.bmj.com/content/50/6/349.full.pdf+htmlhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23536687?tool=bestpractice.com包括第二种尚未被发现的类似于 FMF 的自身炎症性基因的发病率。事实上,主要临床特征(例如,儿科年龄组的复发性发热)基本无特异性,发热和多浆膜炎在其他遗传性复发性发热综合征中也常见。因此,无法始终排除临床误诊。事实上,地中海血统人群中没有获得性基因突变的 FMF 患者比例相对较低(20% 至 25%),而在其他人群中可能非常高(高达 85%)。在一些罕见家族中,可以解释为某些严重基因突变的真显性传播,而在其他家族中,复等位基可能导致更严重的疾病。一项欧洲研究支持了基因剂量观念。[37]Federici S, Calcagno G, Finetti M, et al. Clinical impact of MEFV mutations in children with periodic fever in a prevalent western European Caucasian population. Ann Rheum Dis. 2012;71:1961-1965.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22580583?tool=bestpractice.com但其他因素,例如尚不清楚的分子机制(如对非外显子突变 1 转录过程的调节)对无或仅有一个 MEFV 基因突变患者的临床疾病发生仍是一项可能的假说。
环境因素在触发 FMF 发作中发挥重要作用,尤其是压力、婴儿期病毒性疾病、极限运动,或甚至是药物,例如间羟胺和顺铂。[38]Karadag O, Tufan A, Yazisiz V, et al. The factors considered as trigger for the attacks in patients with familial Mediterranean fever. Rheumatol Int. 2013;33:893-897.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22814791?tool=bestpractice.com