Metatropic dysplasia is a rare osteochondrodysplasia due to mutations in the TRPV4 gene: TRPV4 is a cation channel, non-selectively permeable to calcium, encoded by a gene on chromosome 12q24.11; it is widely expressed and involved in many different physiological processes through responses to several different stimuli (physical, chemical, and hormonal) in ciliated epithelial cells.
Taken together, these data strongly support that up-regulation of FST in chondrocytes by skeletal dysplasia-inducing TRPV4 mutations contributes to disease pathogenesis.
Finally, a small number of patients have been identified in whom a TRPV4 mutation results in a phenotype combining skeletal dysplasia with peripheral neuropathy.
Thus, while other factors are at play, our results are consistent with the increased TRPV4 basal activity being a critical determinant of the severity of skeletal dysplasia.