Homocysteinuria
Clinical features
Ix
Tx
Most common inborn error of methionine metabolism
Presentation:
Infancy – non-specific features
i. Failure to thrive
ii. Developmental delay
c. Diagnosis usually made >3 years – when ectopia lentis occurs
Eye
Skeletal (resembles marfans)
Neuro
Fair features: hair, skin, blue eyes, malar flush
Risk of vaso-occlusive disease (thromboembolism) - main cause of death
Ix
Tx
Spot diagnosis:
Infant with seizures, ataxia, developmental delay, alopecia and brittle hair, angular stomatitis, eczema-like rash, hearing loss
Biotinidase deficiency
Spot diagnosis:
tall stature, downward lens dislocation, ID vintage
Homocystinuria
Spot diagnosis:
Macula - cherry red spots on fundoscopy
Developmental regression
Lysosomal storage disorder
- Diagnosis with serum white cell (leucocyte) enzymes
Ddx
Spot diagnosis:
kinky hair, hypotonia, laxity of joints/ skin, dev delay
What causes this condition?
What other manifestations can it have?
Ix
Tx
Menke disease
Ix: low levels of serum copper and ceruloplasmin; light microscopy of hair follice can be diagnostic; genetic testing for ATP7a mutation
Tx: injections of Cu
What is the major cause of death and morbidity in homocystinuria?
Thrombo-embolism
What is homocystinuria caused by?
Mutation in CBS – gene encoding cystathione beta-synthase
Dietiary amino acid intake contains methionine (essential aa) -> converted to homocysteine -> requires CBS to convert it to cystine as metabolite
Cystinuria
Cause
Presentation
Diagnosis
Tx
• Aminoaciduria; Rare AR disease 1/7000
• Defective aa transportation in prox renal tubules -> reduced reabsorption of cysteine ->
RECURRENT RENAL STONES due to cysteine crystallization
• Excessive cystine in urine
Diagnosis: urine cyanide-nitroprusside (urine turns magenta colour)
Treatment
• Regular fluids (dissolves stones)
• Alkalinisation of urine with potassium citrate (melts stones)
• Chelation (D- Penicillamine or tiopronin bind with cysteine to increase reabsorption)
Sepsis presentation (feeding difficulties, vomiting, dehydration, hypoglycaemia) in neonatal period
With metabolic acidosis (widened anion gap)
And high serum ammonia
Organic acidemia - ddx:
a. Methylmalonic acidaemia (MMA)
b. Propionic acidaemia (PA)
c. Isovaleric acidaemia (IVA)
d. 3-methylcrotonylglycinuria (3-MCG)
e. GA-1
NOT urea cycle defect (also get high ammonia w encephalopathy but respiratory alkalosis and NORMAL glucose)
Ix and Treatment of organic acidaemias
Ix
Tx
Which organic acidaemia RARELY presents in neonatal period and features
microencephalopathic macrocephaly, dystonia,
subdural haemmhorages
Glutaric academia (GA1)
Children typically present with a similar clinical picture to sepsis and may have associated infection and fever. Investigations will reveal metabolic decompensation (in response to infection/surgery/trauma etc) with ketoacidosis, hyperammonaemia, hypoglycaemia, and encephalopathy
What is the role of the urea cycle and what enzymes are involved?
Pathway by which nitrogen (produced from amino acid catabolism) is converted to urea for excretion
Protein -> ammonia (CNS toxic) -> urea cycle -> urea (non-toxic, excreted)
Enzymes
Causes of lactate elevation
What is the most common urea cycle defect?
And what is this, how does it present?
OTC (ornithine transcarbamyase deficiency)
Presentation
After onset of BM feeds encepaloapthy with feeding difficulty, vomiting leathargy and progression to seizures and coma.
Glutamine has osmotic effect -> cerebral oedema
Milder form will present older during episode of illness/catabolism with encephalopathy and elevated ammonia
Presentation of urea cycle defect
Key features on ix
Presentation
Examples
OTC
Classic citrullinaemia (also known as argininosuccinate synthetase deficiency)
Arginase deficiency
Argininosuccinate lyase (ASL) deficiency (also known as argininosuccinic aciduria)
N-acetyl glutamate synthetase (NAGS) deficiency.
Key features:
Often self-limitation of protein intake as a learned behaviour in these patients
a. High ammonia
b. Respiratory alkalosis (elevated ammonia causes respiratory depression)
C. Liver dysfunction
D. Normal BSL! Normal ketones
Zellweger syndrome
Genetics/cause
Presentation
MRI
Bloods
Prognosis
‘cerebro-hepato-renal syndrome’
Heterogeneous presentation within first few days of life, essentially progressive deterioration of liver, kidney, brain with death ~6mo after onset
MRI - unmyelinated white matter
Bloods: incr VLCFA
Prognosis
- death in infancy
Hallmark feature of peroxisomal conditions (in terms of ix for diagnosis)
Presentation is abnormal FROM BIRTH
Incr VLCFA
What conditions cause high ammonia
Urea cycle disorder (VERY high ammonia; normal ketones/glucose/lactate)
Organic acid disorder (mild-mod lactate elevation; low glucose, high ketones and lactate)
Fabry disease
What is it
What is it caused by?
Features
Treatment
Most prevalent lysosomal storage disorder
Caused by mutation in GLA gene - defective alpha galactosidase A enzyme -> defective metabolism of glycosphingolipid (lipid) causing build up within lysosomes
pneumonic - FABRY C
F-foamy urine
Angiokeratoma around lower abdomen and upper thighs (red spots under skin), anhydrosis, alpha-galactosidase A deficiency
Burning pain in hands and feet with exercise, stress, illness (peripheral neuropathy)
Renal failure
Y chromosome - males (x linked), youth death
Cardiac disease, corneal clouding
If untreated -> cardiac and renal disease/failure
Tx: alpha galactosidase A enzyme replacement
Function of lysosome
Pancytopaenia and Hepatospenomegaly and recurrent fractures, most recently AVN of femoral head.
Blood Film shown below
What is this condition?
Gaucher disease
2nd Most common lysosomal storage disease (after Fabrys) caused by deficiency in enzyme glucocerebrosidase -> lipid accumulation within lysosomes in macrophages
Pathology - Gaucher cells look like crumbled tissue paper = lipid accumulation in macrophages
Hepatosplenomegaly (lipid fills liver and spleen)
Pancytopaenia (lipid fills BM)
B/L AVN femoral heads (reduced blood supply to bones, osteoporosis, fractures and pain crises)
+/- resp involvement (ILD, pulmonary vasc disease/pulm HTN)
+/- neurological involvement
—> type 1 no CNS involvement adolescent onset Ashkenazi jews
—> type 2 early CNS onset in neonatal period and death
—> type 3 chronic/later insidious onset)
Niemann Pick
What is it?
What is it caused by?
Sx
Lysosomal storage disease resulting in accumulation of cholesterol deposits inside lysosomes
NPC1 or 2 mutation -> impaired intracellular cholesterol transport -> brain, BM, liver, spleen, lung damage
Sx
- A characteristic early finding in children with NPC is impairment of the ability to look upward and downward (vertical supranuclear gaze palsy or VSGP
- hepatosplenomegaly
- prolongued cholestatic neonatal jaundice
- Thrombocytopenia secondary to splenic sequestration -> easy bleeding and bruising
Progressive neurological dysfunction
- Early infantile onset: delayed motor milestones, hypotonia, developmental regression
- Infantile and childhood onset: learning difficulties/ID, progressive cerebellar ataxia, dysarthria, dysphagia, seizures, cataplexia
- Teenage/adult onset: can be psychiatric sx, often misdiagnosed as early onset dementia
- Resp failure common reason for death
No cure
Tx is supportive
What are Mucopolysaccharidoses caused by?
What is the inheritance pattern?
Lysosomal storage disorders caused by a deficiency in enzymes required for breakdown of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)
Fragments of partially degraded GAGs accumulate in lysosomes resulting in cellular dysfunction and clinical abnormalities
MPS 1-7
Range of clinical severity - Severe = Hurler syndrome, Mild = Scheie disease
All autosomal recessive EXCEPT MPS II which is X linked
Clinical manifestations of MPS 1 (Hurler- Sheie syndrome)
What is it caused by?
Features?
Treatment?
Alpha L iduronidase deficiency (test for this enzyme in leukocytes and test urine for mucopolysaccharides)
Other:
Hepatosplenomegaly
Sinus Disease
Cardiovascular - valvular disease
Neuro- developmental delay, seizures, hydrocephalus
Soft tissue storage and skeletal disease with or without brain disease (MPS I, II (later onset), VII)
Soft tissue and skeletal disease (MPS VI)
Primarily skeletal disorders (MPS IV A and B)
Primarily CNS disorders (MPS III A to D)
Treatment
Enzyme replacement
BMT
