Biochemical and molecular characteristics among infants with abnormal newborn screen for very-long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency: A single center experience.

ABSTRACT

Objective: To define the biochemical and molecular characteristics and diagnostic outcomes of a large US cohort of VLCAD deficiency positive cases as detected by newborn screening (NBS) with MSMS. This relatively common disorder of fatty acid oxidation is screened for in every state in America and often results in extensive testing of multiple samples to arrive at a diagnostic conclusion. Materials and methods: We compared NBS dried blood spot (DBS) acylcarnitine profile (ACP) C14, C141, C142, C141/C121 ratio and plasma C14, C141, C142, C141/C121, C141/C16 and C141/C2 ratios among true positive and false positive cases. Results of VLCAD enzyme analysis, molecular testing and fibroblast fatty acid oxidation probe assay were analyzed. Results: The presence of compound heterozygous or homozygous pathogenic variants, along with elevations of C14, C141 and C141/C121 ratio, identified 19 VLCAD deficiency cases. All were asymptomatic at most recent follow-up visits. The C141/C121 ratio in NBS-DBS ACP and plasma acylcarnitine profiles at follow-up (follow-up plasma ACP), is the most useful marker to differentiate between true and false positive cases. Among all cases with molecular analysis data available, approximately 56.7% had a single pathogenic mutation. Lymphocyte enzyme analysis (n = 61) was uninformative in 23% of cases studied. Conclusion: VLCAD deficiency NBS by MSMS is highly effective at identifying asymptomatic affected infants. Our cohort showed that elevation of C141/C121, in both NBS DBS and plasma ACP, was informative in discriminating affected from unaffected individuals and contributes to improve the accuracy of confirmatory testing of infants with presumptive positive for VLCAD deficiency.