HFG_HOXA13-III

Gene
HOXA13
Disease
HFG-III
Inheritance
AD
Classification
Limited
Total Score
4.5
Publications Reviewed
3
Publication Span
7.46 years
Last Updated
08/18/2025
Curator(s)
Macayla Weiner, Laurel Hiatt

Description

Autosomal dominant hand-foot-genital syndrome type III (HFG-III) is associated with expansions of the third N-terminal polyalanine tract in HOXA13. PMID 10839976 reported an HFGS family with a 24-bp in-frame insertion in exon 1 that expands HOXA13 polyalanine tract III from 18 to 26 alanines and segregates across multiple affected relatives. PMID 17935235 reported a father-daughter family with a 42-bp insertion adding 14 alanines to the same tract and showed that expanded HOXA13 proteins mislocalize to cytoplasmic aggregates, show reduced steady-state abundance, and can sequester wild-type HOXA13/HOXD13 in transfected cells.

Genetic evidence

Total: 2

Singular EvidenceProbandsPMID:108399760.5One HFGS family (family 4) had a HOXA13 tract III 24-bp in-frame insertion after base 387, expanding the third N-terminal polyalanine tract from 18 to 26 alanines, with typical limb and genitourinary abnormalities.
Collective EvidenceSegregationPMID:108399761.5The HOXA13 tract III expansion was detected in multiple affected relatives in family 4 (I.2, III.1, III.3, and III.5) and was reported as stable over at least three generations.
2 rows

Experimental evidence

Total: 2.5

FunctionProtein interactionPMID:179352350.5In transfected COS-7 cells, +10 and +14 HOXA13 polyalanine expansion proteins sequestered wild-type HOXA13 and wild-type HOXD13 into cytoplasmic aggregates in a length-dependent manner.
ModelsNon-human model organismPMID:153854462Engineered Hoxa13 tract-III polyalanine-expansion mice (Hoxa13Ala28) showed limb phenotypes indistinguishable from Hoxa13 null mice and no homozygote survival to birth, supporting loss of function for HOXA13 polyalanine expansions.
2 rows

Note: Maximum score caps apply at evidence type, category, and supercategory levels, so section totals may be lower than the raw sum of row scores.