Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.1.6.1 (sulfatase)
 3,205 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Metachromatic leukodystrophy is the name given to a group of diseases in patients having a deficiency of CS sulfatase activity. The diagnosis usually can be made by using leukocytes, urine, and cultured skin fibroblasts. The low level of enzyme activity can be measured with an artificial substrate, NCS, or suitably labeled CS. In a number of families, healthy carriers of this autosomal recessive disease have been found to have enzyme levels near those of affected patients. We prepared (14)C-stearic acid-labeled CS and studied its metabolism in cultured human cells from patients and controls, In vitro, CS sulfatase requires bile salts to stimulate the enzymatic reaction. The (14)C-CS also can be added to the medium on cultured cells, and its metabolism in the cells can be followed without the addition of bile salts. A child with late infantile MLD was identified by studies on urine and leukocytes. Studies on leukocytes from the parents revealed a very low enzyme level in the father (false positive) and a typical carrier level in the mother. A pregnancy in this family was monitored, and in vitro studies on cultured AFC revealed low CS and NCS sulfatase levels. However, the addition of (14)C-CS to the culture medium revealed normal metabolism in these cells. An unaffected fetus was predicted on the basis of the cell feeding studies. The couple elected to abort this pregnancy, and studies on the fetus confirmed it would not have been affected with MLD.
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PMID:Metabolism of fatty acid-labeled cerebroside sulfate in cultured cells from controls and metachromatic leukodystrophy patients. Use in the prenatal identification of a false positive fetus. 611 97

Cultured skin fibroblasts from the patient described by Shapiro and co-workers as having a variant form of metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) [Shapiro, L.J., Aleck, K. A., Kaback, M.M., Itabashi, H., Desnick, R.J., Brand, N., Stephens, R.L., Fluharty, A.L. & Kihara, H. (1979) Pediatr. Res. 13, 1179-1181] were confirmed to have a partial deficiency (25-40% of controls) of arylsulfatase A activity in vitro and a severe inability to metabolize [14C]stearic acid-labeled sulfatide presented in the medium. When 150 micrograms of purified activator protein for GM1 ganglioside beta-galactosidase and sulfatide sulfatase was added in 4 ml of medium with the 14C-labeled sulfatide, correction of the sulfatide metabolism to the normal range was found. Monospecific antibodies to this activator protein were prepared in rabbits, and they were used to examine cultured cells for the presence of crossreacting material by Ouchterlony double immunodiffusion and rocket immunoelectrophoresis. Cell extracts from controls and from patients with GM1 gangliosidosis and MLD were found to have a single line of identity. By comparison to known concentrations of purified activator protein, cell extracts from controls were found to have 0.76 +/- 0.32 micrograms of activator protein (mean +/- 1 SD, n = 10) per mg of solubilized protein, whereas those from patients with type 1 GM1 gangliosidosis and late infantile MLD had 1.53 and 1.41 micrograms/mg, respectively. Cell extracts from the patient with a variant form of MLD had no visible precipitin line by Ouchterlony double immunodiffusion and only a diffuse nonspecific region of staining by rocket immunoelectrophoresis. These immunologic studies provide evidence for a deficiency in the activator protein required for normal catabolism of sulfatide in the cells from this patient and possibly provide a method for diagnosis of similar patients.
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PMID:Immunological evidence for deficiency in an activator protein for sulfatide sulfatase in a variant form of metachromatic leukodystrophy. 613 82

[(14)C]Stearic acid-labeled cerebroside sulfate (CS) was presented to cultured skin fibroblasts in the media. After endocytosis into control cells 86% was readily metabolized to galactosylceramide, ceramide, and stearic acid, which was reutilized in the synthesis of the major lipids found in cultured fibroblasts. Uptake and metabolism of the [(14)C]CS into cells from typical and atypical patients and carriers of metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), Krabbe disease, and Farber disease were observed. Cells from patients with late infantile MLD could not metabolize the CS at all, while cells from an adult MLD patient and from a variant MLD patient could metabolize approximately 40 and 15%, respectively, of the CS taken up. These results are in contrast to the in vitro results that demonstrated a severe deficiency of arylsulfatase A in the late infantile and adult patient and a partial deficiency (21-27% of controls) in the variant MLD patient. Patients with Krabbe disease could metabolize nearly 40% of the galactosylceramide produced in the lysosomes from the CS. This is in contrast to the near zero activity for galactosylceramidase measured in vitro. Carriers of Krabbe disease with galactosylceramidase activity near half normal in vitro and those with under 10% of normal activity were found to metabolize galactosylceramide in cells significantly slower than controls. This provides a method for differentiating affected patients from carriers with low enzyme activity in vitro. Cells from patients with Farber disease could catabolize only approximately 15% of the ceramide produced from galactosylceramide. This technique provides a method for the identification of typical and atypical patients and carriers of three genetic diseases using one substrate.
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PMID:Diagnosis of metachromatic leukodystrophy, Krabbe disease, and Farber disease after uptake of fatty acid-labeled cerebroside sulfate into cultured skin fibroblasts. 680 21

Lysosomal disorders as a group result from mutations in genes coding for lysosomal proteins or other proteins required for the proper processing of lysosomal enzymes and cofactors. Most patients with these disorders are diagnosed by protein-based methods using available synthetic and natural substrates. Almost all of the genes coding for lysosomal enzymes, activator proteins and protective proteins have been cloned, and mutations that result in defective protein have been identified. This may result in tests that will aid in making a prognosis in newly diagnosed cases of a given disease. In this article the problems with the accurate diagnosis of metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) and the difficulty in cloning the galactocerebrosidase gene, which is defective in patients with Krabbe disease, are discussed. Patients with MLD are diagnosed by the deficiency of arylsulfatase A activity in leucocytes and/or cultured skin fibroblasts. However, diagnosis is complicated by the finding of a mutation in healthy people which in a homozygous state or in the heterozygous state with a true MLD-causing mutation results in low in vitro arylsulfatase A activity. Definitive diagnosis of a new patient, and confirmation of prenatal tests can be done using a 14C-stearic acid-labeled sulfatide loading test in cultured cells. This test will also diagnose the cases of MLD caused by a defect in SAP-1. While the diagnosis of patients with Krabbe disease rests on the measurement of low galactocerebrosidase activity, there are problems with identifying carriers due to overlap with non-carriers. The gene has not yet been cloned due to the difficulty in obtaining purified enzyme and the lack of markers near the gene on chromosome 14. Galactocerebrosidase has been sufficiently purified to allow isolation of protein bands for microsequencing. This information will be used to clone the gene for future studies to improve diagnostic methods and to treat the available animal models with galactocerebrosidase deficiency.
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PMID:Research update on lysosomal disorders with special emphasis on metachromatic leukodystrophy and Krabbe disease. 831 94

Glycosphingolipids are located in cell membranes and the brain is especially enriched. We speculated that the subcellular location of glycosphingolipids depends on their fatty acid chain length because their sugar residues are constant, whereas fatty acid chain length can vary within the same molecule. To test this hypothesis we analysed the glycosphingolipid sulfatide, which is highly abundant in myelin and has mostly long fatty acids. We used a negative ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry precursor ion scan to analyse the molecular species of sulfatide in cultured astrocytes and a mouse model of the human disease metachromatic leukodystrophy. In these arylsulfatase A (ASA)-deficient mice sulfatide accumulates intracellularly in neurons and astrocytes. Immunocytochemistry was also performed on cultured astrocytes and analysed using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Analyses of the molecular species showed that cultured astrocytes contained sulfatide with a predominance of stearic acid (C18), which was located in large intracellular vesicles throughout the cell body and along the processes. The same was seen in ASA-deficient mice, which accumulated a higher proportion (15 mol% compared with 8 mol% in control mice) of sulfatide with stearic acid. We conclude that the major fatty acid composition of sulfatide differs between white and grey matter, with neurons and astrocytes containing mostly short-chain fatty acids with an emphasis on stearic acid. Based on our results, we speculate that the fatty acid chain length of sulfatide might determine its intracellular (short chain) or extracellular (long chain) location and thereby its functions.
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PMID:Sulfatide with short fatty acid dominates in astrocytes and neurons. 1662 13