Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.1.6.4 (chondroitinase)
 2,039 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Lowe (oculocerebrorenal) syndrome (LS) is an X-linked disorder characterized by congenital cataracts, generalized hypotonia, mental retardation, and renal Fanconi syndrome. The basic defect remains unknown, but the possibility that fibroblasts express reduced sulfation of glycosaminoglycans has been studied in several laboratories. A mechanism involving overproduction of an enzyme (nucleotide pyrophosphatase) active against adenosine 3'-phosphate, 5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS) has been postulated. Decreased synthesis of normally sulfated glycosaminoglycans was also reported. We measured the synthesis of proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans by incorporation of [3H]glucosamine and Na2(35)SO4 into cultured fibroblasts from four LS patients and related it directly to the synthesis in six normal fibroblast cultures. We found that the rate of synthesis varied greatly among the normal cultures (cv, 30%), but not significantly between LS and the normal. The LS fibroblasts' ability to sulfate glycosaminoglycans was assayed as the amount of 3H-glycosaminoglycan eluting at low ionic strength on anion exchange chromatography, the amount of non-sulfated disaccharide present in chondroitinase digests of labeled proteoglycans, and the ratio of 35S to 3H incorporation into proteoglycans. Each parameter suggested that the LS cells were synthesizing normally sulfated glycosaminoglycans (e.g. % delta Di-0S, 21 +/- 6 in normal; 27 +/- 6 in LS). The cells' ability to sulfate glycosaminoglycans was tested under conditions of markedly stimulated glycosaminoglycan synthesis, by treating the cultures with a beta-D-xyloside. LS and normal cells responded to the treatment by elevating the rate of synthesis of normally sulfated glycosaminoglycans (3.5-6-fold in normal, 3-7-fold in LS). Nucleotide pyrophosphatase activities were found to be elevated in each of our four LS cell strains as in the previous studies, excluding genetic heterogeneity as an explanation for our findings. We conclude that LS fibroblasts do not express defects in sulfation of glycosaminoglycans or in synthesis of proteoglycans.
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PMID:Proteoglycan synthesis in normal and Lowe syndrome fibroblasts. 357 Dec 27

Costello syndrome is characterized by mental retardation, loose skin, coarse face, skeletal deformations, cardiomyopathy, and predisposition to numerous malignancies. The genetic origin of Costello syndrome has not yet been defined. Using immunohistochemistry and metabolic labeling with [3H]-valine, we have established that cultured skin fibroblasts obtained from patients with Costello syndrome did not assemble elastic fibers, despite an adequate synthesis of tropoelastin and normal deposition of the microfibrillar scaffold. We found that impaired production of elastic fibers by these fibroblasts is associated with a functional deficiency of the 67-kD elastin-binding protein (EBP), which is normally required to chaperone tropoelastin through the secretory pathways and to its extracellular assembly. Metabolic pulse labeling of the 67-kD EBP with radioactive serine and further chase of this tracer indicated that both normal fibroblasts and fibroblasts from patients with Costello syndrome initially synthesized comparable amounts of this protein; however, the fibroblasts from Costello syndrome patients quickly lost it into the conditioned media. Because the normal association between EBP and tropoelastin can be disrupted on contact with galactosugar-bearing moieties, and the fibroblasts from patients with Costello syndrome revealed an unusual accumulation of chondroitin sulfate-bearing proteoglycans (CD44 and biglycan), we postulate that a chondroitin sulfate may be responsible for shedding EBP from Costello cells and in turn for their impaired elastogenesis. This was further supported by the fact that exposure to chondroitinase ABC, an enzyme capable of chondroitin sulfate degradation, restored normal production of elastic fibers by fibroblasts from patients with Costello syndrome. We also present evidence that loss of EBP from fibroblasts of Costello syndrome patients is associated with an unusually high rate of cellular proliferation.
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PMID:Decreased elastin deposition and high proliferation of fibroblasts from Costello syndrome are related to functional deficiency in the 67-kD elastin-binding protein. 1071 2

Type IVA mucopolysaccharidosis or Morquio A disease is a lysosomal storage disease, autosomal recessive, caused by deficiency of the N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate sulfatase or GALNS. The severe phenotype is characterized by a severe skeletal dysplasia without any mental retardation. The aim of this study was to propose a strategy of molecular and prenatal diagnosis of this pathology. A molecular study was carried out on 7 patients MPS IVA issued from 5 unrelated families recruited from different Tunisian regions. All the patients were offspring of consanguineous marriages. The clinical and biologic study confirmed the diagnosis of MPS IVA within the 7 studied patients. Three GALNS mutations were identified by molecular analysis: IVS1+1G>A, G66R and A85T. The unions between Tunisian relatives are important and increase the Morquio A incidence in Tunisia. The identification of GALNS mutations in the Tunisian population permits better understanding of the Morquio A phenotype, a reliable genetic counselling and a molecular prenatal diagnosis to Tunisian at-risk relatives.
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PMID:[Morquio A disease: clinical and molecular study of Tunisian patients]. 2189 7