amylopectin and Heart-Failure

Glycogen storage disease type IV (GSD-IV) is an autosomal recessive disease caused by a deficiency in glycogen-branching enzyme (GBE1) activity that results in the accumulation of amylopectin-like polysaccharide, which presumably leads to osmotic swelling and cell death. This disease is extremely heterogeneous in terms of tissue involvement, age of onset and clinical manifestation. The most severe fetal form presents as hydrops fetalis; however, its pathogenetic mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study, mice carrying a stop codon mutation (E609X) in the Gbe1 gene were generated using a gene-driven mutagenesis approach. Homozygous mutants (Gbe(-/-) mice) recapitulated the clinical features of hydrops fetalis and the embryonic lethality of the severe fetal form of GSD-IV. However, contrary to conventional expectations, little amylopectin accumulation and no cell degeneration were found in Gbe(-/-) embryonic tissues. Glycogen accumulation was reduced in developing hearts of Gbe(-/-)embryos, and abnormal cardiac development, including hypertrabeculation and noncompaction of the ventricular wall, was observed. Further, Gbe1 ablation led to poor ventricular function in late gestation and ultimately caused heart failure, fetal hydrops and embryonic lethality. We also found that the cell-cycle regulators cyclin D1 and c-Myc were highly expressed in cardiomyocytes and likely contributed to cardiomyocyte proliferation and trabeculation/compaction of the ventricular wall. Our results reveal that early molecular events associated with Gbe1 deficiency contribute to abnormal cardiac development and fetal hydrops in the fetal form of GSD-IV.

Topics: 1,4-alpha-Glucan Branching Enzyme; Amylopectin; Animals; Cell Cycle Proteins; Cell Proliferation; Codon, Terminator; Cyclin D1; Embryo Loss; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Genes, myc; Glycogen; Glycogen Storage Disease Type IV; Heart; Heart Defects, Congenital; Heart Failure; Heart Rate; Hydrops Fetalis; Mice; Myocytes, Cardiac; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Ventricular Function

We report a 13-year-old boy with multisystem involvement secondary to accumulation of amylopectin-like material. He was born to consanguineous parents at full term without any complications and his maternal perinatal history was uneventful. His parents were cousins. He had normal growth and development except for his weight. His sister died from an unexplained cardiomyopathy at the age of 8 years. Our patient's initial symptom was severe heart failure. Since he also had a complaint of muscle weakness, electromyography was performed which showed muscle involvement. The diagnosis was suggested by tissue biopsy of skeletal muscle showing intracellular, basophilic, diastase-resistant, periodic acid-Schiff-positive inclusion bodies and was confirmed by the presence of a completed branching enzyme deficiency. Similar intracytoplasmic inclusion-like bodies were also found in liver biopsy, but very few in number compared with the skeletal muscle. The patient died from an intercurrent infection. Postmortem endomyocardial biopsy revealed the same intracytoplasmic inclusions as described above affecting almost all myocardial cells. Ultrastructural examination of liver biopsy was nondiagnostic; however, myocardium showed prominent, large, intracytoplasmic deposits. Glycogen branching enzyme gene sequence was normal, and thus classical branching enzyme deficiency was excluded. Our patient represents the first molecular study performed on a patient in whom there was multiple system involvement secondary to accumulation of amylopectin-like material. We suggest that this is an as yet undefined and different phenotype of glycogen storage disease associated with multisystemic involvement.

Topics: 1,4-alpha-Glucan Branching Enzyme; Adolescent; Amylopectin; Autopsy; Biopsy; Electromyography; Fatal Outcome; Genotype; Glycogen Storage Disease Type IV; Heart Failure; Humans; Inclusion Bodies; Liver; Male; Muscle Weakness; Muscle, Skeletal; Myocardium; Phenotype; Up-Regulation