Young woman with recurrent ischemic strokes diagnosed as Fabry disease: lessons learned from a case report

Fabry Disease: Current and Novel Therapeutic Strategies. A Narrative Review

BACKGROUND

Fabry disease (FD) is an inherited lysosomal storage disorder, leading to multisystemic manifestations and causing significant morbidity and mortality.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this narrative review is to present the current and novel therapeutic strategies in FD, including symptomatic and specific treatment options.

METHODS

A systematic literature search was conducted to identify relevant studies, including completed and ongoing randomized-controlled clinical trials (RCTs), prospective or retrospective cohort studies, case series and case reports that provided clinical data regarding FD treatment.

RESULTS

A multidisciplinary symptomatic treatment is recommended for FD patients, personalized according to disease manifestations and their severity. During the last two decades, FD-specific treatments, including two enzyme-replacement-therapies (agalsidase alfa and agalsidase beta) and chaperone treatment with migalastat have been approved for use and allowed for symptoms' stabilization or even disease burden reduction. More therapeutic agents are currently under investigation. Substrate reduction therapies, including lucerastat and venglustat, have shown promising results in RCTs and may be used either as monotherapy or as complementary therapy to established enzymereplacement- therapies. More stable enzyme-replacement-therapy molecules that are associated with less adverse events and lower likelihood of neutralizing antibodies formation have also been developed. Ex-vivo and in-vivo gene therapy is being tested in animal models and pilot human clinical trials, with preliminary results showing a favorable safety and efficacy profile.

CONCLUSION

The therapeutic landscape in FD appears to be actively expanding with more treatment options expected to become available in the near future, allowing for a more personalized approach in FD patients.

A male Fabry disease patient treated with intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke

The use of intravenous thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke is associated with improved outcomes. Fabry disease is an X-linked glycosphingolipid storage disease with vascular endothelial deposits. Affected males with the classic phenotype develop renal, cardiac, and cerebrovascular disease and die prematurely. However, Fabry disease is rare in young men with first ischemic stroke of undetermined cause. We report a 38-year-old man with acute aphasia and a left M2 segment of the middle cerebral artery thrombus with no recanalization who was finally diagnosed with Fabry disease after left ventricular hypertrophy of undetermined cause had been identified. A gene test revealed a R227X mutation typical of Fabry disease with the classical phenotype. To our knowledge our patient is the first reported male Fabry patient who was given intravenous thrombolytic therapy and the first reported Fabry patient who received intravenous thrombolytic therapy between 3 and 4.5 hours of the symptom onset. Despite favorable prognostic indicators on admission imaging, our patient suffered a significant stroke and had an unfavorable clinical outcome. Fortunately, the episode was not complicated by intracranial hemorrhage. Further studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenous thrombolytic therapy in treating patients with Fabry disease and acute ischemic stroke.