Transient developmental delays in infants with Duarte-2 variant galactosemia.

Duarte galactosemia is not classic galactosemia, but rather an example of biochemical variant galactosemia that results in approximately 25% residual activity of galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase (GALT) enzyme. In contrast, classic galactosemia is associated with complete or near complete absence of GALT activity. While infants with classic galactosemia are placed on galactose-restricted diets to prevent the acute and long-term manifestations of their metabolic disorder, while individuals with Duarte variant galactosemia (Duarte-2 galactosemia) do not require diet therapy. The long-term complications that are seen in classic galactosemia such as cerebellar ataxia, and hypergonadotropic hypogonadism do not occur in Duarte-2 galactosemia. While Duarte galactosemia does not appear to be a metabolic disease, it may have an impact on early neurodevelopmental outcomes. This study examined developmental outcomes and the need for special services in individuals with Duarte-2 galactosemia in comparison to individuals with classic galactosemia. We performed a medical record review of individuals with GALT deficiency who were evaluated at Boston Children's Hospital and enrolled in our study of outcomes in galactosemia. This included 95 participants, 21 with Duarte-2 galactosemia and 73 with classic galactosemia. Duarte-2 participants had developmental test scores within the average range. However, 42% of subjects with Duarte-2 galactosemia had participated in early intervention and/or special education and 32% received speech therapy. Their pattern of strengths and weaknesses in cognitive/language/motor domains was similar to that noted in participants with classic galactosemia, albeit to a milder degree. The data indicate that in children with Duarte-2 variant galactosemia, the cognitive/language and motor skills were within normal limits with their cognitive/language skills developing earlier than their motor skills during their first year of life. A history of diet treatment was not related to the use of special services. These results suggest that Duarte-2 galactosemia increases the risk for early mild developmental delays irrespective of treatment history, which resolves over time, and highlights the need to further assess neurodevelopment in early infancy, in Duarte-2 galactosemia. As Duarte-2 galactosemia is not a bona fide biochemical genetic disease, we hypothesize that elements in the genomic space that include the GALT gene are responsible for a transient delay in language-related motor skills during early infancy.

The molecular basis of galactosemia - Past, present and future.

Galactosemia, an inborn error of galactose metabolism, was first described in the 1900s by von Ruess. The subsequent 100years has seen considerable progress in understanding the underlying genetics and biochemistry of this condition. Initial studies concentrated on increasing the understanding of the clinical manifestations of the disease. However, Leloir's discovery of the pathway of galactose catabolism in the 1940s and 1950s enabled other scientists, notably Kalckar, to link the disease to a specific enzymatic step in the pathway. Kalckar's work established that defects in galactose 1-phosphate uridylyltransferase (GALT) were responsible for the majority of cases of galactosemia. However, over the next three decades it became clear that there were two other forms of galactosemia: type II resulting from deficiencies in galactokinase (GALK1) and type III where the affected enzyme is UDP-galactose 4'-epimerase (GALE). From the 1970s, molecular biology approaches were applied to galactosemia. The chromosomal locations and DNA sequences of the three genes were determined. These studies enabled modern biochemical studies. Structures of the proteins have been determined and biochemical studies have shown that enzymatic impairment often results from misfolding and consequent protein instability. Cellular and model organism studies have demonstrated that reduced GALT or GALE activity results in increased oxidative stress. Thus, after a century of progress, it is possible to conceive of improved therapies including drugs to manipulate the pathway to reduce potentially toxic intermediates, antioxidants to reduce the oxidative stress of cells or use of "pharmacological chaperones" to stabilise the affected proteins.

In silico prediction of the effects of mutations in the human UDP-galactose 4'-epimerase gene: towards a predictive framework for type III galactosemia.

The enzyme UDP-galactose 4'-epimerase (GALE) catalyses the reversible epimerisation of both UDP-galactose and UDP-N-acetyl-galactosamine. Deficiency of the human enzyme (hGALE) is associated with type III galactosemia. The majority of known mutations in hGALE are missense and private thus making clinical guidance difficult. In this study a bioinformatics approach was employed to analyse the structural effects due to each mutation using both the UDP-glucose and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine bound structures of the wild-type protein. Changes to the enzyme's overall stability, substrate/cofactor binding and propensity to aggregate were also predicted. These predictions were found to be in good agreement with previous in vitro and in vivo studies when data was available and allowed for the differentiation of those mutants that severely impair the enzyme's activity against UDP-galactose. Next this combination of techniques were applied to another twenty-six reported variants from the NCBI dbSNP database that have yet to be studied to predict their effects. This identified p.I14T, p.R184H and p.G302R as likely severely impairing mutations. Although severely impaired mutants were predicted to decrease the protein's stability, overall predicted stability changes only weakly correlated with residual activity against UDP-galactose. This suggests other protein functions such as changes in cofactor and substrate binding may also contribute to the mechanism of impairment. Finally this investigation shows that this combination of different in silico approaches is useful in predicting the effects of mutations and that it could be the basis of an initial prediction of likely clinical severity when new hGALE mutants are discovered.

Galactosemia: when is it a newborn screening emergency?

Classic galactosemia is an autosomal recessive disorder of carbohydrate metabolism, due to a severe deficiency of the enzyme, galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT), that catalyzes the conversion of galactose-1-phosphate and uridine diphosphate glucose (UDPglucose) to uridine diphosphate galactose (UDPgalactose) and glucose-1-phosphate. Upon consumption of lactose in the neonatal period, the affected infants develop a potentially lethal disease process with multiorgan involvement. Since the advent of newborn screening (NBS) for galactosemia, we rarely encounter such overwhelmingly ill newborns. After ascertainment that the positive NBS indicates the possibility of galactosemia due to GALT deficiency, the critical question for the physician is whether the infant has the classic or a variant form of GALT deficiency, as classic galactosemia is a medical emergency. However, there are over 230 GALT gene mutations that have been detected around the world. Yet, most positive NBS tests are due to the Duarte biochemical variant condition or a simple false positive. In order to make the correct decision as well as provide informative counseling to parents of infants with a positive NBS, I utilize a relatively simple classification scheme for GALT deficiency. There are three basic forms of GALT deficiency: 1) classic galactosemia; 2) clinical variant galactosemia; and 3) biochemical variant galactosemia. The classic genotype is typified by Q188R/Q188R, the clinical variant by S135L/S135L and the biochemical variant by N314D/Q188R. In classic galactosemia, the erythrocyte GALT enzyme activity is absent or markedly reduced, the blood galactose and erythrocyte galactose-1-phosphate levels are markedly elevated, and the patient is at risk to develop potentially lethal E. coli sepsis, as well as the long-term diet-independent complications of galactosemia. Patients with the clinical variant form require treatment but do not die from E. coli sepsis in the neonatal period. If the clinician suspects galactosemia, even if based on clinical findings alone, then the infant should be immediately placed on a lactose-restricted diet. The purpose of this review is to help the clinician make the correct therapeutic decision after an NBS test has returned positive for galactosemia.

A yeast model reveals biochemical severity associated with each of three variant alleles of galactose-1P uridylyltransferase segregating in a single family.

Classic galactosaemia is a potentially lethal inborn error of metabolism that results from profound impairment of galactose-1P uridylyltransferase (GALT). Like many autosomal recessive disorders, classic galactosaemia demonstrates marked allelic heterogeneity; many if not most patients are compound heterozygotes. Owing in part to the fact that most GALT mutations are never observed in patients in the homozygous state, in part to concerns of possible allelic interaction, and in part to the broad range of GALT activity levels associated with the affected, carrier, and control states, definition of the specific functional consequence of individual variant GALT alleles from studies of clinical samples alone can be a challenging task. To overcome this problem we previously developed and applied a null-background yeast system to enable functional analyses of human GALT alleles expressed individually or in defined pairs. We report here the application of this system to characterize three distinct variant alleles of GALT identified within a single family. Of these alleles, one carried a missense mutation (K285N) that has previously been reported and characterized, one carried a nonsense mutation (R204X) that has previously been reported but not characterized, and the third carried a missense substitution (T268N) that was novel. Our studies reported here reconfirm the profound nature of the K285N mutation, demonstrate that the R204X mutation severely compromises both expression and function of human GALT, and finally implicate T268N as one of a very small number of naturally occurring rare but neutral missense polymorphisms in human GALT.

Molecular heterogeneity of classical and Duarte galactosemia: mutation analysis by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis.

Classical galactosemia is caused by one common missense mutation (Q188R) and by several rare mutations in the galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT) gene. The most common variant of GALT, the Duarte variant, occurs as two types, Duarte-1 (D-1) and Duarte-2 (D-2), both of which carry the sequence change N314D. D-1 increases, whereas D-2 decreases GALT activity. To study the molecular genetics of classical and Duarte galactosemia, we analyzed the GALT mutations in 30 families with classical galactosemia, in 10 families with the D-2 variant and in 3 individuals carrying the D-1 allele by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). DGGE detected 59 of the 60 classical galactosemia alleles. Q188R accounted for 60%, K285N accounted for 28% of these alleles. Eight novel candidate galactosemia mutations were found. On all D-2 alleles N314D occurred in cis with two intronic sequence changes, on the D-1 alleles in cis with a neutral mutation in exon 7. We conclude that the mutations causing galactosemia are highly heterogeneous and that K285N is a second common galactosemia mutation in our population.

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in galactosaemia.

Carbohydrate-deficient isoforms of transferrin (CDT) were examined in Guthrie cards from patients with galactosaemia before and during dietary treatment for up to 9 y. In untreated patients the CDT values were elevated due to abnormal asialo- and/or disialotransferrin. During treatment, the CDT levels were normal except on a few temporary occasions. Galactose or its close metabolites did not inhibit two relevant glycosyltransferases in vitro, and their levels were not correlated to the CDT values. The transferrin isoform changes in untreated patients were similar to, but less pronounced than in CDG syndrome type I.

Rennes-like variant of galactosemia: clinical and biochemical studies.

The first recognized case of a Rennes-like variant form of galactosemia in a Caucasian individual is described. Galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase activity was approximately 10% of the normal in both erythrocytes and cultured skin fibroblasts. Electrophoretic mobility of the variant enzyme in erythrocytes was slower than that of normal individuals and identical to that of the two cases originally reported from Rennes, France. In normal cultured skin fibroblasts, four transferase bands were found. In this tissue, the patient again had a slower moving transferase. It is proposed that in transferase variants an altered subunit results in a specifically altered enzyme mobility analogous for each tissue.