Fucosidosis is a lysosomal storage disorder characterised by progressive psychomotor deterioration, angiokeratoma and growth retardation. It is due to deficient alpha-l-fucosidase activity leading to accumulation of fucose-containing glycolipids and glycoproteins in various tissues. Fucosidosis is extremely rare with less than 100 patients reported worldwide, although the disease occurs at a higher rate in Italy, in the Hispanic-American population of New Mexico and Colorado, and in Cuba. We present here a review study of the mutational spectrum of fucosidosis. Exon by exon mutation analysis of FUCA1, the structural gene of alpha-l-fucosidase, has identified the mutation(s) in nearly all fucosidosis patients investigated. The spectrum of the 22 mutations detected to date includes four missense mutations, 17 nonsense mutations consisting of seven stop codon mutations, six small deletions, two large deletions, one duplication, one small insertion and one splice site mutation. All these mutations lead to nearly absent enzymatic activity and severely reduced cross-reacting immunomaterial. The observed clinical variability is, therefore, not due to the nature of the fucosidosis mutation, but to secondary unknown factors. (+info)
Glycoprotein lysosomal storage disorders: alpha- and beta-mannosidosis, fucosidosis and alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase deficiency.
(2/22)
Glycoproteinoses belong to the lysosomal storage disorders group. The common feature of these diseases is the deficiency of a lysosomal protein that is part of glycan catabolism. Most of the lysosomal enzymes involved in the hydrolysis of glycoprotein carbohydrate chains are exo-glycosidases, which stepwise remove terminal monosaccharides. Thus, the deficiency of a single enzyme causes the blockage of the entire pathway and induces a storage of incompletely degraded substances inside the lysosome. Different mutations may be observed in a single disease and in all cases account for the nonexpression of lysosomal glycosidase activity. Different clinical phenotypes generally characterize a specific disorder, which rather must be described as a continuum in severity, suggesting that other biochemical or environmental factors influence the course of the disease. This review provides details on clinical features, genotype-phenotype correlations, enzymology and biochemical storage of four human glycoprotein lysosomal storage disorders, respectively alpha- and beta-mannosidosis, fucosidosis and alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase deficiency. Moreover, several animal disorders of glycoprotein metabolism have been found and constitute valuable models for the understanding of their human counterparts. (+info)
MR brain imaging of fucosidosis type I.
(3/22)
SUMMARY: Fucosidosis is a rare autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease with the main clinical findings of progressive neuromotor deterioration, seizures, coarse facial features, dysostosis multiplex, angiokeratoma corporis diffusum, visceromegaly, recurrent respiratory infections, and growth retardation. Fucosidosis type I rapidly evolves toward a progressive neurologic deterioration and death. We report MR imaging findings of the brain of three patients with fucosidosis type I, including previously unreported findings, to expand the knowledge of the neuroradiologic spectrum of the disease. (+info)
Four year follow-up of a case of fucosidosis treated with unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation.
(4/22)
Fucosidosis is a rare autosomal recessive lysosomal disorder caused by alpha-fucosidase deficiency. We report a child with fucosidosis, second daughter of non-consanguineous parents, for whom biochemical diagnosis followed clinical evidence of the disease in her older sister. Based on previous experiences, the indication to transplant was considered. Since she lacked a matched sibling, an unrelated marrow donor was found. At pre-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation evaluation, first signs of neurological involvement were clinically detectable. MRI showed diffuse hypomyelination and auditory brainstem responses and somatic-sensorial evoked potentials were altered. Visual evoked potentials were normal, tortuosity in the retinal veins and peripapillary hemorrhages were detected. Bone marrow transplantation conditioning was with a regimen of busulphan, thiotepa and cyclophosphamide; in vivo Campath 1G, cyclosporin A and short course methotrexate were given to prevent graft-versus-host disease. The patient engrafted rapidly and her post-transplant course was complicated by moderate graft-versus-host disease, transient episodes of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, repeated septic complications and recurrent episodes of Sweet's syndrome. Sequential short tandem repeat polymorphisms on peripheral blood and bone marrow cells documented the persistence of donor engraftment. Follow-up showed a progressive rise of enzymatic levels. Psychomotor development improved, as confirmed by evaluation of evoked potentials and by MRI scanning. (+info)
Crystal structure of Thermotoga maritima alpha-L-fucosidase. Insights into the catalytic mechanism and the molecular basis for fucosidosis.
(5/22)
Fucosylated glycoconjugates are involved in numerous biological events, and alpha-l-fucosidases, the enzymes responsible for their processing, are therefore of crucial importance. Deficiency in alpha-l-fucosidase activity is associated with fucosidosis, a lysosomal storage disorder characterized by rapid neurodegeneration, resulting in severe mental and motor deterioration. To gain insight into alpha-l-fucosidase function at the molecular level, we have determined the crystal structure of Thermotoga maritima alpha-l-fucosidase. This enzyme assembles as a hexamer and displays a two-domain fold, composed of a catalytic (beta/alpha)(8)-like domain and a C-terminal beta-sandwich domain. The structures of an enzyme-product complex and of a covalent glycosyl-enzyme intermediate, coupled with kinetic and mutagenesis studies, allowed us to identify the catalytic nucleophile, Asp(244), and the Bronsted acid/base, Glu(266). Because T. maritima alpha-l-fucosidase occupies a unique evolutionary position, being far more closely related to the mammalian enzymes than to any other prokaryotic homolog, a structural model of the human enzyme was built to document the structural consequences of the genetic mutations associated with fucosidosis. (+info)
Fucosidosis with hypothyroidism: a case report.
(6/22)
Fucosidosis is a rare, autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disorder caused by a severe deficiency of alpha-L-fucosidase. Here we present a 27-month-old male who was referred to us for evaluation of developmental delay, which was first detected at age six months. His past medical history was also remarkable for recurrent pulmonary infections and myoclonic seiures. His family history revealed that he was the first living child from a consanguineous marriage. He had a younger sister who died at five months of age from pneumonia who had facial resemblance to the proband, developmental delay and a congenital heart defect. Physical examination revealed length: 81 cm (25-50p), weight: 10.2 kg (25-50p), and head circumference: 49 cm (50-75p). He had a coarse face, hepatomegaly and generalized spasticity. His initial laboratory examination revealed negative urine screening column chromatography for mucopolysaccharidosis. His X-ray findings were consistent with mild form of dysostosis multiplex. Based on clinical and laboratory features, fucosidosis was suspected. Fucosidase enzyme activity was zero. In addition to fucosidosis, thyroid function tests indicated primary hypothyroidism. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the fourth case of fucosidosis diagnosed in Turkey. (+info)
Characterization and 400-MHz 1H-NMR analysis of urinary fucosyl glycoasparagines in fucosidosis.
(7/22)
Fucosyl glycoasparagines accumulating in the urine of a patient with fucosidosis were isolated using reverse-phase HPLC. Structural analysis of 25 glycoasparagines was carried out by combination of methylation and 400-MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy analyses. The compounds represent different steps in the incomplete catabolism of N-glycosidically linked glycans, as the result of an alpha-L-fucosidase deficiency. All of the glycoasparagines possess a fucose residue alpha-1,6-linked to the GlcNAc 1 residue attached to asparagine. Fucose residues on the peripheral branches were linked either alpha-1,3 to GlcNAc residues (X determinant) or alpha-1,2 to galactose residues (H determinant). The present study allows precise assignments of the NMR parameters for most of the fucosyl linkages occurring in N-glycosidically linked glycans of the N-acetyllactosamine type. (+info)
Distribution of saposin proteins (sphingolipid activator proteins) in lysosomal storage and other diseases.
(8/22)
Saposins (A, B, C, and D) are small glycoproteins required for the hydrolysis of sphingolipids by specific lysosomal hydrolases. Concentrations of these saposins in brain, liver, and spleen from normal humans as well as patients with lysosomal storage disease were determined. A quantitative HPLC method was used for saposin A, C, and D and a stimulation assay was used for saposin B. In normal tissues, saposin D was the most abundant of the four saposins. Massive accumulations of saposins, especially saposin A (about 80-fold increase over normal), were found in brain of patients with Tay-Sachs disease or infantile Sandhoff disease. In spleen of adult patients with Gaucher disease, saposin A and D accumulations (60- and 17-fold, respectively, over normal) were higher than that of saposin C (about 16-fold over normal). Similar massive accumulations of saposins A and D were found in liver of patients with fucosidosis (about 70- and 20-fold, respectively, over normal). Saposin D was the primary saposin stored in the liver of a patient with Niemann-Pick disease (about 30-fold over normal). Moderate increases of saposins B and D were found in a patient with GM1 gangliosidosis. Normal or near normal levels of all saposins were found in patients with Krabbe disease, metachromatic leukodystrophy, Fabry disease, adrenoleukodystrophy, I-cell disease, mucopolysaccharidosis types 2 and 3B, or Jansky-Bielschowsky disease. The implications of the storage of saposins in these diseases are discussed. (+info)