 |
|
Two Brothers With Mild Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria Due to a Novel Genotype
Ali A. Berry, MD;
Robert J. Desnick, MD, PhD;
Kenneth H. Astrin, PhD;
Junard Shabbeer, PhD;
Anne W. Lucky, MD;
Henry W. Lim, MD
Arch Dermatol. 2005;141:1575-1579.
Background Congenital erythropoietic porphyria (CEP) is a rare autosomal recessive disease caused by the deficient activity of the heme biosynthetic enzyme, uroporphyrinogen III synthase (URO-synthase), and the accumulation of the nonphysiologic and phototoxic porphyrin I isomers. Clinical manifestations range from severe mutilation to mild erosions and blisters on sun-exposed areas. Evaluation of the URO-synthase mutation and residual enzyme activity has been correlated with the phenotypic expression of the disease.
Observations We describe 16- and 4-year-old brothers with CEP with a mild phenotype due to a novel genotype, one allele having a promoter mutation (–76G A) and the other having an exonic missense mutation (G225S). The father and a 4-year-old fraternal twin brother were carriers of the –76GA mutation, whereas the mother and a 15-year-old brother were carriers of the G225S mutation. Previous in vitro expression studies demonstrated that the G225S mutation severely decreased URO-synthase activity to 1.2% of normal, whereas the promoter mutation decreased the activity to approximately 50% of wild type, accounting for the mild clinical phenotype.
Conclusion The mild disease phenotype in these patients is a further example of the clinical heterogeneity seen in CEP and is additional proof that in vitro enzyme expression studies provide dependable genotype-phenotype correlations.
Author Affiliations: Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Mich (Drs Berry and Lim); Department of Human Genetics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University, New York (Drs Desnick, Astrin, and Shabbeer); and Dermatology Associates of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio (Dr Lucky).
|
