From the seminal discovery of proteoglycogen and glycogenin to emerging knowledge and research on glycogen biology.

Although the discovery of glycogen in the liver, attributed to Claude Bernard, happened more than 160 years ago, the mechanism involved in the initiation of glucose polymerization remained unknown. The discovery of glycogenin at the core of glycogen's structure and the initiation of its glucopolymerization is among one of the most exciting and relatively recent findings in Biochemistry. This review focuses on the initial steps leading to the seminal discoveries of proteoglycogen and glycogenin at the beginning of the 1980s, which paved the way for subsequent foundational breakthroughs that propelled forward this new research field. We also explore the current, as well as potential, impact this research field is having on human health and disease from the perspective of glycogen storage diseases. Important new questions arising from recent studies, their links to basic mechanisms involved in the de novo glycogen biogenesis, and the pervading presence of glycogenin across the evolutionary scale, fueled by high throughput -omics technologies, are also addressed.

Defining the Phenotype and Assessing Severity in Phosphoglucomutase-1 Deficiency.

OBJECTIVE: To define phenotypic groups and identify predictors of disease severity in patients with phosphoglucomutase-1 deficiency (PGM1-CDG). STUDY DESIGN: We evaluated 27 patients with PGM1-CDG who were divided into 3 phenotypic groups, and group assignment was validated by a scoring system, the Tulane PGM1-CDG Rating Scale (TPCRS). This scale evaluates measurable clinical features of PGM1-CDG. We examined the relationship between genotype, enzyme activity, and TPCRS score by using regression analysis. Associations between the most common clinical features and disease severity were evaluated by principal component analysis. RESULTS: We found a statistically significant stratification of the TPCRS scores among the phenotypic groups (P < .001). Regression analysis showed that there is no significant correlation between genotype, enzyme activity, and TPCRS score. Principal component analysis identified 5 variables that contributed to 54% variance in the cohort and are predictive of disease severity: congenital malformation, cardiac involvement, endocrine deficiency, myopathy, and growth. CONCLUSIONS: We established a scoring algorithm to reliably evaluate disease severity in patients with PGM1-CDG on the basis of their clinical history and presentation. We also identified 5 clinical features that are predictors of disease severity; 2 of these features can be evaluated by physical examination, without the need for specific diagnostic testing and thus allow for rapid assessment and initiation of therapy.

Evaluation of the biotinidase activity in hepatic glycogen storage disease patients. Undescribed genetic finding associated with atypical enzymatic behavior: an outlook.

Repeated evaluation of biotinidase (BTD) activity was carried out for a long-term follow-up in patients with hepatic glycogen storage diseases (GSDs). The results indicated inter-intra variability among the GSD-Ia, GSD-III and GSD-IX patients. In addition, a c.1330G>C transversion in the BTD gene, resulting in a p.Asp444His substitution was detected in one allele of a GSD-Ia patient with sustained normal enzyme activity. Thus far, it is necessary to be cautious in the interpretation of the results of BTD activity as a presumptive GSD diagnostic element. It is not known why plasma BTD activity increases in GSDs patients, or the clinical importance of the increment. When viewed from a global perspective, there are some lines of biotin biology that could indicate a relationship between BTD´s behavior and GSDs.

Glucogenosis hepática: aspectos clínicos, bioquímicos y enzimáticos en un grupo de pacientes pediátricos / Hepaticglucogenoses: clinical biochemical and enzymatic aspects in a group of pediatric patients

Se estudiaron nueve niños con el diagnóstico clínico de Glucogenosis, sus tipos fueron confirmados mediante determinación de la concentración y estructura del glucógeno, prueba de estimulación con glucagon y análisis del defecto enzimático. Ocho pacientes presentaron Glucogenosis tipo III y uno, tipo I. El grupo etario predominante en la tipo III fue el de lactantes (62.5%) y la tipo VI se diagnosticó en un preescolar. Los hallazgos predominantes fueron: hepatomegalia, facies de muñecas y talla baja. Las principales alteraciones bioquímicas fueron: elevación de transaminasas en Glucogenosis III y VI; hipertrigliceridemia, hipoglicemia, acidosis metabólica, hiperuricemia únicamente en Glucogenosis III. Un paciente tipo III presentó alteraciones cardiovasculares. Todos mostraron aumento de la concentración de glucógeno, con estructura normal en tipo VI y anormal en el 75% de la tipo III. 75% de las Glucogenosis tipo III tuvieron respuesta positiva a la estimulación con glucagon. Ningún niño presentó reducción de la Glucosa 6 Fosfatasa

Immunoblot analyses of glycogen debranching enzyme in different subtypes of glycogen storage disease type III.

To determine the tissue distribution of glycogen debranching enzyme, we used immunoblot analysis with a polyclonal antibody prepared against purified porcine muscle debranching enzyme. Debranching enzyme was identified in porcine brain, kidney, cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle, liver, and spleen; and in human liver, skeletal muscle, lymphocytes, lymphoblastoid cells, skin fibroblasts, cultured chorionic villi, and amniocytes. In each of these tissues the debranching enzyme band was 160 kd. To determine the molecular basis for glycogen storage disease type III at the protein level, tissues from 41 patients with glycogen storage disease type III were also subjected to immunoblot analysis. Three patients having isolated transferase deficiency with retention of glucosidase activity (type IIID disease) had nearly normal amounts of cross-reactive material. In the remaining patients (both transferase and glucosidase deficiency), debranching enzyme was either absent or greatly reduced. These latter patients included 31 with disease that appeared to involve both liver and muscle (type IIIA), four with disease that was present only in the liver (type IIIB), and three with unknown muscle status. In patients with both type IIIA and type IIIB disease, debranching enzyme protein was absent in skin fibroblasts, lymphoblastoid cells, and lymphocytes. The parents of two patients with type IIIA disease had an intermediate level of debranching enzyme protein, consistent with their presumed heterozygote state. An immunoblot analysis of cultured amniotic fluid cells from a woman whose fetus was at risk for type IIIA disease predicted an unaffected fetus; the prediction was confirmed postnatally. Thus Western blot analysis offers an alternate method of prenatal diagnosis for the most common form of glycogen storage disease type III.