The mucopolysaccharidoses: Inborn errors of glycosaminoglycan catabolism

The mucopolysaccharidoses are genetic disorders of glycosaminoglycan metabolism. Patients with these diseases accumulate within the lysosomes of most tissues excessive amounts of dermatan and/or heparan sulfates, or of keratan sulfate. The clinical consequences of such glycosaminoglycan storage range from skeletal abnormalities to cardiovascular problems, and to motor and mental retardation. In all mucopolysaccharidoses, except Morquio disease, an excessive accumulation of sulfate-labeled glycosaminoglycans has been demonstrated in fibroblasts cultured from the patient's skin. It was subsequently shown that this was due to the deficiency of specific proteins which were named "corrective fac…