Repression of ferritin light chain translation by human eIF3.

Abstract

A central problem in human biology remains the discovery of causal molecular links between mutations identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and their corresponding disease traits. This challenge is magnified for variants residing in non-coding regions of the genome. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 5' untranslated region (5'-UTR) of the ferritin light chain (<i>FTL</i>) gene that cause hyperferritinemia are reported to disrupt translation repression by altering iron regulatory protein (IRP) interactions with the <i>FTL</i> mRNA 5'-UTR. Here, we show that human eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 (eIF3) acts as a distinct repressor of <i>FTL</i> mRNA translation, and eIF3-mediated <i>FTL</i> repression is disrupted by a subset of SNPs in <i>FTL</i> that cause hyperferritinemia. These results identify a direct role for eIF3-mediated translational control in a specific human disease.