PHOX2B mutations and ventilatory control

The transcription factor PHOX2B is essential for the development of the autonomic nervous system. In humans, polyalanine expansion mutations in PHOX2B cause Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS), a rare life-threatening disorder characterized by hypoventilation during sleep and impaired chemosensitivity. CCHS is combined with comparatively less severe impairments of autonomic functions including thermoregulation, cardiac rhythm, and digestive motility. Respiratory phenotype analyses of mice carrying an invalidated Phox2b allele (Phox2b+/− mutant mice) or the Phox2b mutation (+7 alanine expansion) found in patients with CCHS (Phox2b27Ala/+ mice) have shed light on the role for PHOX2B in breathing control and on the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying CCHS. Newborn mice that lacked one Phox2b allele (Phox2b+/−) had sleep apneas and depressed sensitivity to hypercapnia. However, these impairments resolved rapidly, whereas the CCHS phenotype is irreversible. Heterozygous Phox2b27Ala/+ pups exhibited a lack of responsiveness to hypercapnia and unstable breathing; they died within the first few postnatal hours. The generation of mouse models of CCHS provides tools for evaluating treatments aimed at alleviating both the respiratory symptoms and all other autonomic symptoms of CCHS.