Seven novel mutations in mut methylmalonic aciduria

Methylmalonic aciduria (MMA) is an autosomal recessive inborn error of metabolism that results from functional defects in methylmalonyl CoA mutase (MCM), a nuclear-encoded, mitochondrial enzyme that uses the vitamin B₁₂ derivative, adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) as a cofactor. To date, 23 mutations have been identified at the MUT locus on the short arm of chromosome 6, causing the mut forms of MMA (mut complementation group; mut MMA, McKusick #251000). We now report seven novel mutations. Three were found in mut⁰ patients: R228Q (c759G→A) was found as a heterozygous change; G312V (c1011G→T) and 346delL (c1112delCTT) were both found as homozygous changes. Four mutations were found in mut^– patients: A191E (c648C→A) and V633G (c1974T→G) were found in the same patient; 684insL (c2128insCTC) and L685R (c2130T→G) were both found as homozygous changes. The recent modelling of the human methylmalonyl CoA mutase allowed for an interpretation of the identified mutations. Hum Mutat 11:270–274, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Occurrences of methylmalonic aciduria and Hartnup disorder in the same family

Methylmalonic aciduria and Hartnup disorder are two rare autosomal recessively inherited metabolic disorders. We have described the coexistence of these disorders within the same pedigree in two unrelated families. This association was not found in 57 other families surveyed because of a proband known to have either methylmalonic aciduria or Hartnup disorder.     

N-carbamylglutamate enhances ammonia detoxification in a patient with decompensated methylmalonic aciduria

In patients with methylmalonic aciduria (MMA), the accumulating metabolite propiony-CoA results in an inhibition of the urea circle via the decreased synthesis of N-acetylglutamate, an essential activator of carbamylphosphat synthetase (CPS). This results in one of the major clinical problems which is hyperammonaemia. In a patient with decompensated MMA, the CPS activator carbamylglutamate was tested for its ability to antagonize the propionyl-CoA-induced hyperammonaemia. Oral carbamylgutamate administration resulted in an impressive increase in ammonia detoxification compared to peritoneal dialysis. Safe, fast and easy to administer, carbamylglutamate improves the acute therapy of decompensated MMA by increasing ammonia detoxification and avoiding hyperammonaemia.     

A homozygous nonsense mutation in the methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase gene (MCEE) results in mild methylmalonic aciduria

Methylmalonic aciduria (MMA-uria) is an autosomal recessive inborn error of amino acid metabolism, involving valine, threonine, isoleucine, and methionine. This organic aciduria may present in the neonatal period with life-threatening metabolic acidosis, hyperammonemia, feeding difficulties, pancytopenia, and coma. Most affected patients have mutations in the methylmalonyl-coenzyme A (methylmalonyl-CoA) mutase gene. Mildly affected patients may present in childhood with failure to thrive and recurrent attacks of metabolic acidosis. Both a higher residual activity of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase as well as the vitamin B12-responsive defects (cblA and cblB) may form the basis of the mild disorder. A few patients with moderate MMA-uria are known in whom no defect could be identified. Here we present a 16-year-old female patient with persisting moderate MMA-uria (approximately 50 mmol/mol creatinine). She was born to consanguineous Caucasian parents. Her fibroblast mutase activity was normal and no effect of vitamin B12 supplementation could be established. Reduced incorporation of 14C-propionate into macromolecules suggested a defect in the propionate-to-succinate pathway. We found a homozygous nonsense mutation (c.139C>T) in the methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase gene (MCEE), resulting in an early terminating signal (p.R47X). Both parents were heterozygous for this mutation; they were found to excrete normal amounts of methylmalonic acid (MMA). This is the first report of methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase deficiency, thereby unequivocally demonstrating the biochemical role of this enzyme in human metabolism.     

Genetic and cellular studies of oxidative stress in methylmalonic aciduria (MMA) cobalamin deficiency type C (cblC) with homocystinuria (MMACHC)

Methylmalonic aciduria (MMA) cobalamin deficiency type C (cblC) with homocystinuria (MMACHC) is the most frequent genetic disorder of vitamin B₁₂ metabolism. The aim of this work was to identify the mutational spectrum in a cohort of cblC-affected patients and the analysis of the cellular oxidative stress and apoptosis processes, in the presence or absence of vitamin B₁₂. The mutational spectrum includes nine previously described mutations: c.3G>A (p.M1L), c.217C>T (p.R73X), c.271dupA (p.R91KfsX14), c.331C>T (p.R111X), c.394C>T (p.R132X), c.457C>T (p.R153X), c.481C>T (p.R161X), c.565C>A (p.R189S), and c.615C>G (p.Y205X), and two novel changes, c.90G>A (p.W30X) and c.81+2T>G (IVS1+2T>G). The most frequent change was the known c.271dupA mutation, which accounts for 85% of the mutant alleles characterized in this cohort of patients. Owing to its high frequency, a real-time PCR and subsequent high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis for this mutation has been established for diagnostic purposes. All cell lines studied presented a significant increase of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) content, and also a high rate of apoptosis, suggesting that elevated ROS levels might induce apoptosis in cblC patients. In addition, ROS levels decreased in hydroxocobalamin-incubated cells, indicating that cobalamin might either directly or indirectly act as a scavenger of ROS. ROS production might be considered as a phenotypic modifier in cblC patients, and cobalamin supplementation or additional antioxidant drugs might suppress apoptosis and prevent cellular damage in these patients. Hum Mutat 30:1–9, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

甲基丙二酸尿症一家系MMACHC基因突变分析

目的 研究甲基丙二酸尿症(methymalonic aciduria,MMA)MMACHC基冈的突变.方法 应用聚合酶链反应及DNA直接测序技术对甲基丙二酸尿症一家系进行MMACHC基因突变位点检测,并与50名健康人的MMACHC基冈进行对照.结果 患者及其父亲的MMACHC基因中检测到一个新的整码突变,MMACHC基因第2外显子146_154缺失CCTTCCTGG,导致P.49_51位缺失丙氨酸苯丙氨酸亮氨酸(AFL),50名对照者的等位基因无此突变.结论 MMACHC基因的146_154缺失CCTTCCTGG也可能是该家系引起甲基丙二酸尿症的病因.     

Hepatoblastoma

Hepatoblastoma is the most common liver cancer diagnosed in children, generally presenting in children under 3 years of age. They are embryonal tumors believed to arise from a hepatocyte precursor cell and are typically heterogeneous, presenting with mixed histological patterns that may recapitulate stages of liver development. Central review of liver tumors diagnosed in children enrolled in collaborative therapeutic protocols has allowed the identification of histological subtypes with distinct clinical associations. However, and despite great therapeutic advances, the prognosis is still poor for children with unresectable or disseminated hepatoblastoma, and no biomarkers or alternative therapies are currently available. International collaborative efforts are drafting common treatment protocols, and a first consensus histologic classification is now available. New therapeutic algorithms incorporating histopathology and biological parameters, such as patient characteristics and tumor genetics, will be necessary to further improve the management and outcome of these patients in the future.     

单纯型甲基丙二酸血症家系MUT基因变异的分析及产前诊断CSCD

目的对20个单纯型甲基丙二酸血症家系MUT基因的变异进行测序分析,为家系产前诊断提供依据。方法应用PCR产物直接测序法对20例单纯型甲基丙二酸血症患儿及其父母的MUT基因进行变异检测和分析,明确基因变异情况,并对9名孕妇进行产前诊断。结果20例患儿的家系共检测出19种MUT基因变异,最常见的变异为C.323G〉A（P．Arg108His）、c．1106G〉A（P．Arg369His）、C．729_730insTT（P．D244Lfs＊39）和c．1107dupT（P．T370Yfs＊22）。C．920_923delTCTT（P．F307SIs＊6）、C．419T〉C（P．Leu140Pro）和C．613G〉A（P．Glu205Lys）为未报道过的新变异。Polyphen2和Mutationtaster软件预测这3个变异均可能致病。产前诊断结果显示1例胎儿未检测到MUT基因变异,3例胎儿为MUT基因杂合变异携带者,5例胎儿为MUT基因复合杂合变异或纯合变异患儿。MUT基因正常或杂合变异携带者胎儿的家系选择继续妊娠,而MUT基因纯合变异或复合杂合变异胎儿的家系均选择终止妊娠,胎儿娩出后随访结果与产前诊断结果一致。结论MUT基因突变分析结果为家系的产前诊断提供了依据,新变异的检出丰富了MUT基因突变谱。     

Pseudoexon exclusion by antisense therapy in methylmalonic aciduria (MMAuria)

Development of pseudoexon exclusion therapies by antisense modification of pre-mRNA splicing represents a type of personalized genetic medicine. Here we present the cellular antisense therapy and the cell-based splicing assays to investigate the effect of two novel deep intronic changes c.1957–898A>G and c.1957–920C>A identified in the methylmalonyl–coenzyme A (CoA) mutase (MUT) gene. The results show that the nucleotide change c.1957–898A>G is a pathological mutation activating pseudoexon insertion and that antisense morpholino oligonucleotide (AMO) treatment in patient fibroblasts leads to recovery of MUT activity to levels 25 to 100% of control range. On the contrary, the change c.1957–920C>A, identified in two fibroblasts cell lines in cis with c.1885A>G (p.R629G) or c.458T>A (p.D153V), appears to be a rare variant of uncertain clinical significance. The functional analysis of c.1885A>G and c.458T>A indicate that they are the disease-causing mutations in these two patients. The results presented here highlight the necessity of scanning the described intronic region for mutations in MUT-affected patients, followed by functional analyses to demonstrate the pathogenicity of the identified changes, and extend previous work of the applicability of the antisense approach in methylmalonic aciduria (MMAuria) for a novel intronic mutation. Hum Mutat 30:1–7, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Mutations in mut methylmalonic acidemia: Clinical and enzymatic correlations

Mut methylmalonic acidemia is caused by mutations in the MUT locus encoding the enzyme methylmalonyl CoA mutase. Genotypic and phenotypic variability in this disease has been studied extensively by biochemical and somatic cell genetic techniques, by molecular cloning, and by gene transfer. Mutations have been identified that cause classic mut^o phenotypes in which there is no detectable enzymatic activity, mut⁻ phenotypes in which there is residual cobalamin-dependent activity, as well as a subset within both mut^o and mut⁻ phenotypes that exhibit interallelic complementation. These mutations illustrate the position, structure, and function of critical domains within this cobalamin-binding enzyme and provide new insights into the biochemical and clinical consequences of enzyme deficiency. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Protein destabilization and loss of protein‐protein interaction are fundamental mechanisms in cblA‐type methylmalonic aciduria

Mutations in the human MMAA gene cause the metabolic disorder cblA‐type methylmalonic aciduria (MMA), although knowledge of the mechanism of dysfunction remains lacking. MMAA regulates the incorporation of the cofactor adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl), generated from the MMAB adenosyltransferase, into the destination enzyme methylmalonyl‐CoA mutase (MUT). This function of MMAA depends on its GTPase activity, which is stimulated by an interaction with MUT. Here, we present 67 new patients with cblA‐type MMA, identifying 19 novel mutations. We biochemically investigated how missense mutations in MMAA in 22 patients lead to disease. About a third confer instability to the recombinant protein in bacterial and human expression systems. All 15 purified mutant proteins demonstrated wild‐type like intrinsic GTPase activity and only one (p.Asp292Val), where the mutation is in the GTP binding domain, revealed decreased GTP binding. However, all mutations strongly decreased functional association with MUT by reducing GTPase activity stimulation upon incubation with MUT, while nine mutant proteins additionally lost the ability to physically bind MUT. Finally, all mutations interfered with gating the transfer of AdoCbl from MMAB to MUT. This work suggests loss of functional interaction between MMAA and MUT as a disease‐causing mechanism that impacts processing and assembly of a cofactor to its destination enzyme.     

Liver hepatoblastoma and multiple OXPHOS deficiency in the follow-up of a patient with methylmalonic aciduria

A boy who was diagnosed with methylmalonic aciduria (MMA) at the age of 10 days developed persistent hepatomegaly and raised transaminases from the age of 4 years. He was subsequently diagnosed with Leigh syndrome and required a kidney transplantation for end-stage renal failure. A massive hepatoblastoma led to his death by the age of 11 years. Methylmalonyl-CoA mutase activity was undetectable on both cultured skin fibroblasts and kidney biopsy and multiple respiratory chain deficiency was demonstrated in the kidney. Mitochondrial dysfunction and/or post-transplant immunosuppressive therapy should be considered as a possible cause of liver cancer in this patient.     

Genetic analysis of four cases of methylmalonic aciduria and homocystinuria,cblC type#

Methylmalonic aciduria and homocystinuria, cblC type, is the most common disorder of intracellular vitamin B12 (cobalamin, cbl) metabolism, which results in impaired biosynthesis of methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. The gene MMACHC responsible for the cblC type had been identified, which enables molecular diagnostics. Here, we report four cblC type cases, which were identified by the typical manifestations, and a new approach of next-generation sequencing platform in pediatrics for genetic diseases, further confirmed by Sanger sequencing of the whole MMACHC gene. The article will replenish the mutational information of related genes to the cblC type, which makes for detecting of cblC disease through the newborn screening.     

Hepatoblastoma in an adult associated with c-met proto-oncogene imbalance

A rare case of hepatoblastoma in a 61-year-old Japanese housewife is described. This liver tumor mainly consisted of two tissue components: embryonal hepatocytes and primitive mesenchymal tissue. Fetal hepatocytes with alpha-fetoprotein production, gland formation, cartilage and osteoid were also found in a small portion. Molecular analysis by slot blot method revealed increased copy numbers of c-met and K-sam proto-oncogenes and cyclin D1 genes. These findings suggest that alterations of these oncogenes might play a role in the development of adult hepatoblastoma.     

甲基丙二酸血症患儿MUT基因突变分析

目的 检测甲基丙二酸血症(methylmalonic acidemia,MMA)患儿MUT基因突变类型及突变频率,探讨基因型与临床表型之间的关系.方法 依据串联质谱检测血酰基肉碱、气相色谱-质谱检测尿甲基丙二酸以及维生素B_(12)负荷试验等,诊断21例单纯MMA患儿;采用聚合酶链反应和直接测序法对这些患儿进行MUT基因突变检测分析.结果 在21例单纯MMA患儿中14例检测到17种MUT基因突变,其中8种为未报道突变.以c.323G>A(R108H)、c.729_730insTT(D244LfsX39)与c.1630_1631GG>TA(G544X)较为常见,突变频率分别为14.3%、10.7%及14.3%,以错义突变多见(64.7%).14例MUT突变患儿中10例为早发型,1例为迟发型,3例由新生儿出生筛查检出;11例为维生素B_(12)无效型,3例为有效型.结论 揭示了中国MMA患儿中MUT基因的部分突变谱,MUT基因突变患儿发病较早,多为维生素B_(12)无效型.     

Spectrum of MMACHC mutations in Italian and Portuguese patients with combined methylmalonic aciduria and homocystinuria, cblC type

Methylmalonic aciduria (MMA) and homocystinuria, cblC type (MIM 277400) is the most frequent inborn error of vitamin B₁₂. The recent identification of the disease gene, MMACHC, has permitted preliminary genotype–phenotype correlations.We studied 24 Italian and 17 Portuguese patients with cblC defect to illustrate the spectrum of mutations in a southern European population and discuss the impact that mutation identification has on routine diagnostic procedures. Since the metabolic defect raises the serum levels of homocysteine, we also tested if variants in MTHFR—playing a key role in homocysteine remethylation pathway—could act as genetic modifier in cblC defect.We found that the c.271dupA (accounting for 55% of the MMACH alleles in our cohort) followed by c.394C > T (16%) and c.331C > T (9%) were the most frequent mutations. In our study we also identified a novel mutation (c.544T > C). On the other hand, the MTHFR genotype did not appear to influence age at onset, the clinical phenotype and outcome of patients with cblC defect.This study shows that mutation screening for the most common MMACH mutations occurring in early-onset forms (c.271dupA and c.331C > T) seems to have a high diagnostic yield in a southern European population with cblC defect. Although the identification of the gene defect per se does not predict completely time and severity of disease appearance, our data corroborate the importance of a molecular testing to offer accurate prenatal diagnosis to couples at high risk of having affected children.     

Stop codon read-through of a Methylmalonic aciduria mutation

A stop codon defect in methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (resulting in a truncated unstable protein) accounts for up to 14% of mutations identified as causes of Methylmalonic aciduria. There are currently limited treatment regimes for patients with this inherited condition. We aimed to investigate the use of stop codon read-through drugs in a genomic reporter assay cell line with a defect in the mutase gene. A single C–T base change was introduced into exon 6 of the human MUT sequence in the BAC clone RP11-463L20 resulting in an arginine residue being replaced with a TGA stop codon. An enhanced green fluorescent protein reporter gene was introduced in-frame with exon 13 of the MUT gene. The construct was transfected into HeLa cells to produce the genomic reporter assay cell line. To test the suppression of nonsense mutations, cells were incubated in the presence of different compounds for a period of 72 h then analysed by flow cytometry. Treatment of the cells with gentamicin resulted in a 1.6-fold increase in reporter protein, whilst G418 treatment resulted in no change, however the two drugs together acted synergistically to increase the production of methylmalonyl-CoA mutase 2.0-fold (confirmed by mRNA, flow cytometry and enzyme activity). Zidovudine, adefovir and cisplatin were also found to have some activity in the stop codon read-through genomic reporter assay. These results encourage further testing of compounds as well as follow up animal studies. This is the first study to demonstrate the use of stop codon read-through drugs for the potential treatment of Methylmalonic aciduria.