ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Glycerol kinase deficiency (GKD) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by hyperglycerolemia and glyceroluria, which could be misdiagnosed as a moderate to severe hypertriglyceridemia (HTG). We aimed to describe four novel cases of GKD, to complete a systematic review of all cases of isolated GKD published so far, and to develop a suspicion clinical diagnostic score for GKD. METHODS: We reported four cases with suspicion of GKD and compared their phenotype with 584 males with triglycerides (TG) > 300 mg/dL, selected as control group (HTG non-GKD). The GK gene was sequenced in all cases. Lipoprotein particle concentrations were measured in all cases with GKD. The systematic review involved a PubMed, Cochrane and Scopus databases search to identify anthropometric and biochemical characteristics of all described cases with GKD. RESULTS: The systematic review retrieved a total of 15 articles involving 39 subjects with GKD. GKD cases reported a history of high TG levels resistant to lipid-lowering therapy. Compared to GKD subjects (n = 43), HTG non-GKD subjects (n = 584) showed significantly higher BMI, total cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol and gamma-glutamyltransferase, significantly lower HDL cholesterol and TG, and higher prevalence of diabetes. The proposed diagnostic score was significantly higher in GKD than in HTG non-GKD subjects. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first systematic review that compiles all GKD cases reported to date including 4 novel cases, and examine the differential GKD phenotype compared to other types of HTG. The proposed score would have a broad utility in clinical practice to avoid unwarranted lipid lowering treatment in GKD patients.