Novel Mutations in the Cathepsin C Gene in Patients with Pre-pubertal Aggressive Periodontitis and Papillon-Lefèvre Syndrome

Aggressive periodontitis (AP) in pre-pubertal children is often associated with genetic disorders like Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome (PLS). PLS is caused by mutations in the cathepsin C (CTSC) gene. We report a novel CTSC mutation (c.566-572del) in an otherwise healthy AP child and two novel compound heterozygous mutations (c.947T>G, c.1268G>C) in a PLS patient. We conclude that at least a subset of pre-pubertal AP is due to CTSC mutations and therefore may be an allelic variant of PLS.