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Kermond-Marino A, Weng A, Xi Zhang SK, Tran Z, Huang M, Savige J. Population Frequency of Undiagnosed Fabry Disease in the General Population. Kidney Int Rep 2023; 8:1373-1379. [PMID: 37441486 PMCID: PMC10334396 DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2023.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Revised: 04/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Fabry disease is an X-linked disorder that results from pathogenic GLA variants and can now be treated. Most studies of its population frequency have examined only males or attendees at kidney failure or cardiac clinics. This study determined the prevalence of undiagnosed Fabry disease from predicted pathogenic GLA variants in the general population. Methods The Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD) was examined for predicted pathogenic GLA variants based on variant rarity (≤5), and transcript effect in 4 computational tools (CADD >20, PP2 >0.95, SIFT <0.05, Mutation Taster - Disease-causing) and amino acid conservation in vertebrates in a Clustal. Results Predicted pathogenic variants in GLA occurred in 1 in 3225 of the gnomAD population and 1 in 3478 of its control subset. Predicted pathogenic variants were more common in women than expected (3.1:1), which is consistent with men being excluded from gnomAD because of Fabry complications. Predicted pathogenic variants were not found in members of this cohort with South Asian, Ashkenazim, or Finnish ancestries. Variants identified as pathogenic in the Fabry database were found in 1 in 2651 individuals of the gnomAD database and pathogenic variants from ClinVar in 1 in 4420. Discussion The population frequency of 1 in 3225 for undiagnosed men and women with Fabry disease still represents an underestimate because our pathogenicity criteria were rigorous, the cohort did not include already-diagnosed individuals, and whole exome sequencing does not detect intronic variants and large deletions. This study confirms that Fabry disease is more common than previously recognized and still underdiagnosed especially in women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amalia Kermond-Marino
- Department of Medicine, Melbourne Health and Northern Health, The University of Melbourne Victoria, Australia
| | - Annie Weng
- Department of Medicine, Melbourne Health and Northern Health, The University of Melbourne Victoria, Australia
| | - Selina Kai Xi Zhang
- Department of Medicine, Melbourne Health and Northern Health, The University of Melbourne Victoria, Australia
| | - Zac Tran
- Department of Medicine, Melbourne Health and Northern Health, The University of Melbourne Victoria, Australia
| | - Mary Huang
- Department of Medicine, Melbourne Health and Northern Health, The University of Melbourne Victoria, Australia
| | - Judy Savige
- Department of Medicine, Melbourne Health and Northern Health, The University of Melbourne Victoria, Australia
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Gragnaniello V, Burlina AP, Commone A, Gueraldi D, Puma A, Porcù E, Stornaiuolo M, Cazzorla C, Burlina AB. Newborn Screening for Fabry Disease: Current Status of Knowledge. Int J Neonatal Screen 2023; 9:31. [PMID: 37367212 DOI: 10.3390/ijns9020031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2023] [Revised: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Fabry disease is an X-linked progressive lysosomal disorder, due to α-galactosidase A deficiency. Patients with a classic phenotype usually present in childhood as a multisystemic disease. Patients presenting with the later onset subtypes have cardiac, renal and neurological involvements in adulthood. Unfortunately, the diagnosis is often delayed until the organ damage is already irreversibly severe, making specific treatments less efficacious. For this reason, in the last two decades, newborn screening has been implemented to allow early diagnosis and treatment. This became possible with the application of the standard enzymology fluorometric method to dried blood spots. Then, high-throughput multiplexable assays, such as digital microfluidics and tandem mass spectrometry, were developed. Recently DNA-based methods have been applied to newborn screening in some countries. Using these methods, several newborn screening pilot studies and programs have been implemented worldwide. However, several concerns persist, and newborn screening for Fabry disease is still not universally accepted. In particular, enzyme-based methods miss a relevant number of affected females. Moreover, ethical issues are due to the large number of infants with later onset forms or variants of uncertain significance. Long term follow-up of individuals detected by newborn screening will improve our knowledge about the natural history of the disease, the phenotype prediction and the patients' management, allowing a better evaluation of risks and benefits of the newborn screening for Fabry disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincenza Gragnaniello
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35128 Padua, Italy
| | | | - Anna Commone
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35128 Padua, Italy
| | - Daniela Gueraldi
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35128 Padua, Italy
| | - Andrea Puma
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35128 Padua, Italy
| | - Elena Porcù
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35128 Padua, Italy
| | - Maria Stornaiuolo
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35128 Padua, Italy
| | - Chiara Cazzorla
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35128 Padua, Italy
| | - Alberto B Burlina
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35128 Padua, Italy
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Gragnaniello V, Burlina AP, Polo G, Giuliani A, Salviati L, Duro G, Cazzorla C, Rubert L, Maines E, Germain DP, Burlina AB. Newborn Screening for Fabry Disease in Northeastern Italy: Results of Five Years of Experience. Biomolecules 2021; 11:biom11070951. [PMID: 34199132 PMCID: PMC8301924 DOI: 10.3390/biom11070951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2021] [Revised: 06/17/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Fabry disease (FD) is a progressive multisystemic lysosomal storage disease. Early diagnosis by newborn screening (NBS) may allow for timely treatment, thus preventing future irreversible organ damage. We present the results of 5.5 years of NBS for FD by α-galactosidase A activity and globotriaosylsphingosine (lyso-Gb3) assays in dried blood spot through a multiplexed MS/MS assay. Furthermore, we report our experience with long-term follow-up of positive subjects. We screened more than 170,000 newborns and 22 males were confirmed to have a GLA gene variant, with an incidence of 1:7879 newborns. All patients were diagnosed with a variant previously associated with the later-onset phenotype of FD or carried an unclassified variant (four patients) or the likely benign p.Ala143Thr variant. All were asymptomatic at the last visit. Although lyso-Gb3 is not considered a reliable second tier test for newborn screening, it can simplify the screening algorithm when its levels are elevated at birth. After birth, plasma lyso-Gb3 is a useful marker for non-invasive monitoring of all positive patients. Our study is the largest reported to date in Europe, and presents data from long-term NBS for FD that reveals the current incidence of FD in northeastern Italy. Our follow-up data describe the early disease course and the trend of plasma lyso-Gb3 during early childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincenza Gragnaniello
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35129 Padua, Italy; (V.G.); (G.P.); (A.G.); (C.C.); (L.R.)
| | | | - Giulia Polo
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35129 Padua, Italy; (V.G.); (G.P.); (A.G.); (C.C.); (L.R.)
| | - Antonella Giuliani
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35129 Padua, Italy; (V.G.); (G.P.); (A.G.); (C.C.); (L.R.)
| | - Leonardo Salviati
- Clinical Genetics Unit, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35128 Padua, Italy;
| | - Giovanni Duro
- Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation, National Research Council of Italy (IRIB CNR), 90146 Palermo, Italy;
| | - Chiara Cazzorla
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35129 Padua, Italy; (V.G.); (G.P.); (A.G.); (C.C.); (L.R.)
| | - Laura Rubert
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35129 Padua, Italy; (V.G.); (G.P.); (A.G.); (C.C.); (L.R.)
| | - Evelina Maines
- Division of Pediatrics, S. Chiara General Hospital, 38122 Trento, Italy;
| | - Dominique P Germain
- Division of Medical Genetics, University of Versailles and APHP Paris Saclay University, 92380 Garches, France;
| | - Alberto B Burlina
- Division of Inherited Metabolic Diseases, Department of Diagnostic Services, University Hospital, 35129 Padua, Italy; (V.G.); (G.P.); (A.G.); (C.C.); (L.R.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-049-821-7462
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Germain DP, Moiseev S, Suárez-Obando F, Al Ismaili F, Al Khawaja H, Altarescu G, Barreto FC, Haddoum F, Hadipour F, Maksimova I, Kramis M, Nampoothiri S, Nguyen KN, Niu DM, Politei J, Ro LS, Vu Chi D, Chen N, Kutsev S. The benefits and challenges of family genetic testing in rare genetic diseases-lessons from Fabry disease. Mol Genet Genomic Med 2021; 9:e1666. [PMID: 33835733 PMCID: PMC8172211 DOI: 10.1002/mgg3.1666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2020] [Revised: 02/26/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Family genetic testing of patients newly diagnosed with a rare genetic disease can improve early diagnosis of family members, allowing patients to receive disease‐specific therapies when available. Fabry disease, an X‐linked lysosomal storage disorder caused by pathogenic variants in GLA, can lead to end‐stage renal disease, cardiac arrhythmias, and stroke. Diagnostic delays are common due to the rarity of the disease and non‐specificity of early symptoms. Newborn screening and screening of at‐risk populations, (e.g., patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or undiagnosed nephropathies) can identify individuals with Fabry disease. Subsequent cascade genotyping of family members may disclose a greater number of affected individuals, often at younger age than they would have been diagnosed otherwise. Methods We conducted a literature search to identify all published data on family genetic testing for Fabry disease, and discussed these data, experts’ own experiences with family genetic testing, and the barriers to this type of screening that are present in their respective countries. Results There are potential barriers that make implementation of family genetic testing challenging in some countries. These include associated costs and low awareness of its importance, and cultural and societal issues. Regionally, there are barriers associated with population educational levels, national geography and infrastructures, and a lack of medical geneticists. Conclusion In this review, the worldwide experience of an international group of experts of Fabry disease highlights the issues faced in the family genetic testing of patients affected with rare genetic diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominique P Germain
- French Referral Center for Fabry disease, Division of Medical Genetics, University of Versailles, Montigny, France.,First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Puthisastra, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.,MetabERN Center for Rare Diseases, APHP - Paris Saclay University, Paris, France
| | - Sergey Moiseev
- Tareev Clinic of Internal Diseases, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Fernando Suárez-Obando
- Instituto de Genética Humana, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, and Servicio de Genética, Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, Bogotá, Colombia
| | | | | | | | - Fellype C Barreto
- Service of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
| | - Farid Haddoum
- Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Mustapha, Algiers, Algeria
| | | | | | | | - Sheela Nampoothiri
- Department of Pediatric Genetics, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Kochi, India
| | - Khanh Ngoc Nguyen
- Center for Rare Diseases and Newborn Screening, Vietnam National Children's Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Dau-Ming Niu
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Department of Pediatrics, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Juan Politei
- Neurology Department, Laboratorio Neuroquímica Dr Néstor Chamoles Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Long-Sun Ro
- Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Linkou Medical Center, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Dung Vu Chi
- Center for Rare Diseases and Newborn Screening, Vietnam National Children's Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Nan Chen
- Department of Nephrology, Institute of Nephrology, Ruijin Hospital, The Medical School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Sergey Kutsev
- Research Centre for Medical Genetics, Moscow, Russia
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Stiles AR, Zhang H, Dai J, McCaw P, Beasley J, Rehder C, Koeberl DD, McDonald M, Bali DS, Young SP. A comprehensive testing algorithm for the diagnosis of Fabry disease in males and females. Mol Genet Metab 2020; 130:209-214. [PMID: 32418857 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2020.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Successful diagnosis of Fabry disease is often delayed or missed in patients, especially females, due to clinical heterogeneity and a lack of disease awareness. We present our experience testing for Fabry disease in high risk populations and discuss the relative sensitivities of α-galactosidase A (α-Gal A) enzyme activity in blood, plasma lyso-globotriaosylceramide (lyso-Gb3) biomarker, and GLA gene sequencing as diagnostic tests for Fabry disease in both males and females. METHODS Patients with a clinical suspicion of Fabry disease were evaluated with enzyme analysis, biomarker analysis, and GLA sequencing. All three assays were performed from a single tube of EDTA blood. α-Gal A activity was determined in dried blood spots using a fluorometric assay, plasma lyso-Gb3 by UPLC-MS/MS, and GLA analysis by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS Peripheral blood samples were received from 94 males and 200 females, of which 29% of males and 22% of females had a positive family history of Fabry disease. A likely pathogenic or pathogenic variant was identified in 87 (30%) patients (50 males, 37 females), confirming a diagnosis of Fabry disease. Of the remaining patients, 178 (61%) were determined to be unaffected based on normal enzyme activity (males) or normal lyso-Gb3 and negative sequencing results (females). A VUS was identified in 29 (10%) patients. The positive and negative predictive value of plasma lyso-Gb3 was 100% and 97% in males and 100% and 99% in females, respectively. This compares with 84% and 100% in males, and 58% and 50% in females for α-Gal A activity testing, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Plasma lyso-Gb3 has high sensitivity and specificity for Fabry disease in males and females, and provides supportive diagnostic information when gene sequencing results are negative or inconclusive. α-Gal A activity in dried blood spots (DBS) has high sensitivity, but lower specificity for Fabry disease in males, as not all males with low α-Gal A activities were confirmed to have Fabry disease. Therefore, reflexing to gene sequencing and plasma lyso-Gb3 is useful for disease confirmation in males. For females, we found that first tier testing consisting of GLA sequencing and plasma lyso-Gb3 analysis provided the greatest sensitivity and specificity. Enzyme testing has lower sensitivity in females and is therefore less useful as a first-tier test. Enzyme analysis in females may still be helpful as a second-tier test in cases where molecular testing and plasma lyso-Gb3 analysis are uninformative and in vitro enzyme activity is low. SUMMARY Sex-specific testing algorithms that prioritize tests with high specificity and sensitivity offer an effective means of identifying individuals with Fabry disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashlee R Stiles
- Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA.
| | - Haoyue Zhang
- Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Jian Dai
- Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Patricia McCaw
- Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA
| | - James Beasley
- Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Catherine Rehder
- Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Dwight D Koeberl
- Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Marie McDonald
- Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Deeksha S Bali
- Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Sarah P Young
- Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, Duke University Health System, Durham, NC, USA
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