Familial Mediterranean fever in a large Lebanese family: Multiple MEFV mutations and evidence for a Founder effect of the p.[M694I] mutation

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autoinflammatory autosomal recessive disease characterized by recurrent fever crises and serous inflammation. The MEFV gene responsible for the disease was identified on chromosome 16, and 5 of the mutations discovered so far in the gene are most frequently encountered in FMF patients: p.[M694V], p.[V726A], p.[M680I] and p.[M694I] in exon 10, and p.[E148Q] in exon 2. The present work describes multiple MEFV mutations and the corresponding haplotypes for 31 FMF patients as well as 32 “healthy” individuals of a large consanguineous Lebanese family. The DNAs were screened for MEFV mutations, and determination of the corresponding haplotypes was performed for all individuals by genotyping 4 microsatellites surrounding the gene. Five different mutations were detected in this one family, which is unexpected in such a genetic isolate. A phenotypic variability was also observed. The haplotype carrying the p.[M694I] allele, detected in all the family branches, was well conserved and therefore seems to be the ancestral one.