Prenatal diagnosis of mucolipidosis II (I-cell disease)

A pregnancy at risk for mucolipidosis II (I-cell disease) was monitored in which an affected fetus was predicted on the basis of the analyses of lysosomal hydrolases in amniotic fluid and cultured amniotic fluid cells, and by the demonstration of an excessive accumulation of [35S] sulfate-labeled glycosaminoglycans in cultured amniotic cells. This diagnosis was confirmed by performing enzyme assays and [35S] sulfate incorporation studies on material derived from the aborted fetus.

Progressive cerebellar ataxia, proximal neurogenic weakness and ocular motor disturbances: hexosaminidase A deficiency with late clinical onset in four siblings.

Tay-Sachs disease is a genetically determined neurodegenerative disorder, resulting from mutations of the hexosaminidase (Hex) A gene coding for the alpha-subunit of beta-D-N-acetyl-hexosaminidase. Clinically, there is severe encephalomyelopathy leading to death within the first few years of life. Hex A activity is usually absent in tissue and body fluids of these patients. Juvenile and adult Hex A deficiencies are less severe but rare variants with some residual Hex A activity. All these variants are most prevalent among Ashkenazi Jews. We describe a non-Jewish family in which four adult brothers and sisters had markedly reduced Hex A activities and onset of symptoms in the second decade o…

CARDIAC PUNCTURE OF FETUS WITH HURLER'S DISEASE AVOIDING ABORTION OF UNAFFECTED CO-TWIN

Mucolipidosis I — A sialidosis

Mucolipidosis I is characterized by Hurler-like features and skeletal dysplasia with a cherry-red macular spot and signs of neurodegeneration involving neuronal cells and myelin. Excessive amounts of sialic acid-containing compounds were found in cultured fibroblasts, leukocytes, and urine of a patient with a clinical phenotype of mucolipidosis I. In cultured fibroblasts, profoundly diminished activity of an alpha-N-acetylneuraminidase (sialidase) was found. Mucolipidosis I thus appears to be a distinct disorder of complex carbohydrate catabolism caused by the genetic deficiency of a neuraminidase.

CHONDROITINSULPHATURIA WITH α-L-IDURONIDASE DEFICIENCY

Mucolipidosis I: increased sialic acid content and deficiency of an alpha-N-acetylneuraminidase in cultured fibroblasts.

Abstract Extracts of fibroblasts derived from a patient with mucolipidosis I exhibited a fivefold increase in sialic acid content as compared to those of normal cells. About 80% of this sialic acid was linked to other molecules. Using neuraminlactose as a substrate, mucolipidosis I fibroblasts were found to be severely deficient in an “acid” α-N-acetylneuraminidase. Since other lysosomal hydrolase activities were normal, we hypothesize that the basic metabolic lesion in mucolipidosis I lies in a defective degradation of sialic acid-containing compounds due to the genetic deficiency of a neuraminidase.

Splice donor site mutation in the lysosomal neuraminidase gene causing exon skipping and complete loss of enzyme activity in a sialidosis patient.

Sialidosis is a lysosomal storage disease caused by the deficiency of K K-N-acetylneuraminidase (NEU1; sialidase), the key enzyme for the intralysosomal catabolism of sialylated glycoconjugates. We have identified a homozygous transversion in the last intron (IVSE +1 Gs C) in neu1 of a sialidosis patient. Sequencing of the truncated cDNA revealed an alternatively spliced neu1 transcript which lacks the complete sequence of exon 5. Skipping of exon 5 leads to a frameshift and results in a premature termination codon. This is the first description of an intronic point mutation causing a complete deficiency of the lysosomal neuraminidase activity. fl 2001 Federation of Euro- pean Biochemical S…

N-Acetylneuraminic acid storage disease

Increased amounts of free sialic acid were found in body fluids, leukocytes, cultured fibroblasts, and liver tissue of a four-year-old boy with mental retardation, ataxia, and clinical and radiologic findings of a mild mucopolysaccharidosis. A diagnosis of Salla disease was made though in contrast to earlier reports, recurrent upper respiratory infections and hepatosplenomegaly were present already in infancy, and skeletal abnormalities of dysostosis multiplex were found in early childhood. Free sialic acid in the urine was identified as N-acetylneuraminic acid by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Sialidase activities were normal. Increased amounts of bound sialic acid were found in liver and cultured f…

Oligosaccharide and Ganglioside Neuraminidase Activities of Mucolipidosis I (Sialidosis) and Mucolipidosis II (I-Cell Disease) Fibroblasts

Fibroblasts cultured from the skin of patients with the genetic diseases mucolipidosis I and mucolipidosis II were found deficient in a neuraminidase specific for both an α23 and and α2 6 type of neuraminosyl linkage of sialyl oligosaccharides. Obligate heterozygotes (parents) showed an intermediate activity in mucolipidosis I, but a normal one in mucolipidosis II. The neuraminidase activity of mucolipidosis I fibroblasts towards gangliosides, measured at pH 4.5 in the presence of Triton X-100, was within the range of normal controls with gangliosides Gm3 and GD3, but somewhat diminished with a bovine brain ganglioside preparation. In mucolipidosis II, neuraminidase activity was markedly de…