Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0184567 (acute pain)
 3,962 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Fabry disease is an inherited deficiency of the lysosomal hydrolase alpha-galactosidase A (alpha GalA) due to mutations in the Gal gene at Xq22. The result is intralysosomal accumulation of glycosphingolipids. In males who carry the mutation (1/40,000), severe multisystem disease develops in childhood or adolescence. Attacks of acute pain lasting a few minutes to a few days occur in the hands and feet, joints, muscles, and abdomen, sometimes with a fever. Highly suggestive skin lesions called angiokeratomas develop, as well as cornea verticillata characterized by corneal deposits without visual impairment. Stroke, seizures, heart disorders (conduction disturbances, valve disease, and left heart failure) and kidney disorders (proteinuria and chronic renal failure) develop in the third or fourth decade of life. Women who are heterozygous for the Gal gene can transmit the disease to their sons but are usually free of symptoms, although many have cornea verticillata. However, they may have moderate or severe disease related to uneven chromosome X inactivation. Late-onset variants with predominant neurological, cardiac, or renal manifestations have been described. The diagnosis is difficult when the family history is negative for Fabry disease. Tests on plasma and leukocytes show very low levels of alpha GalA activity in affected men, confirming the diagnosis. The Gal gene mutation should be looked for to detect heterozygous women. Symptomatic treatments include analgesics, antihypertensives, antiplatelet agents or anticoagulants to treat ischemic events, and hemodialysis or kidney transplantation to treat chronic renal failure. The recent introduction of enzyme replacement therapy with recombinant agalsidase alpha or beta has been a major breakthrough in the treatment of Fabry disease. Enzyme replacement therapy relieves the pain and decreases the risk of complications. The safety profile is good. Given the high cost of agalsidase therapy (about 160,000 euro/year/patient) and the low incidence of Fabry disease, patients should be referred to highly specialized centers (see addresses on the France Orphanet web site).
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PMID:Fabry disease: a review. 1547 88

Anderson Fabry disease (alpha galactosidase A deficiency) is an X-linked recessive lysosomal storage disorder; alpha galactosidase A deficiency results in accumulation of neutral glycosphingolipids, especially globotriaosylceramide (Gb3), in various cell types promoting development of disease with renal, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular involvement. Clinical aspects which usually begin in childhood or adolescence include intermittent pain in the extremities (acroparesthesias), episodic "Fabry crisis" of acute pain lasting hours to days, characteristic skin lesions (angiokeratomas), hypohidrosis, heat and cold intolerance. Classic phenotype conception of the disease has changed within the past decade, recognizing that disease is not limited to the classical full-blown manifestation in affected males, but may also occur in carrier females. The expanding clinical spectrum of Anderson Fabry disease (AFD) is a real challenge to diagnosis, especially in some patients whose exclusive single organ manifestation belongs to the heart or kidney. This paper reviews natural history of three unrecognized cases recently diagnosed by markedly deficient alpha galactosidase A (alpha Gal A) activity in peripheral leucocytes. Case A: A male patient, aged 24 years, experienced recurrent acroparesthesia when he was 9 years-old. His 26 years-old sister has angiokeratomas as the only sign of disease (case B). Case C: the uncle of these two cases (A, B) has a long history of disease including chronic renal failure, bilateral deafness, stroke, aseptic osteonecrosis. The purpose of the presentation is to sharpen physicians' perception of this disease. Early and accurate diagnosis is mandatory considering that this disorder is now, after introduction of the novel enzyme replacement therapy, a treatable disease.
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PMID:Clinical spectrum of Anderson Fabry disease in a Romanian family. 1723

Neurotensin receptors have been studied as molecular targets for the treatment of pain, schizophrenia, addiction, or cancer. Neurotensin (NT) and Contulakin-G, a glycopeptide isolated from a predatory cone snail Conus geographus, share a sequence similarity at the C-terminus, which is critical for activation of neurotensin receptors. Both peptides are potent analgesics, although affinity and agonist potency of Contulakin-G toward neurotensin receptors are significantly lower, as compared to those for NT. In this work, we show that the weaker agonist properties of Contulakin-G result in inducing significantly less desensitization of neurotensin receptors and preserving their cell-surface density. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies suggested that both glycosylation and charged amino acid residues in Contulakin-G or NT played important roles in desensitizing neurotensin receptors. Computational modeling studies of human neurotensin receptor NTS1 and Contulakin-G confirmed the role of glycosylation in weakening interactions with the receptors. Based on available SAR data, we designed, synthesized, and characterized an analog of Contulakin-G in which the glycosylated amino acid residue, Gal-GalNAc-Thr10, was replaced by memantine-Glu10 residue. This analog exhibited comparable agonist potency and weaker desensitization properties as compared to that of Contulakin-G, while producing analgesia in the animal model of acute pain following systemic administration. We discuss our study in the context of feasibility and safety of developing NT therapeutic agents with improved penetration across the blood-brain barrier. Our work supports engineering peptide-based agonists with diverse abilities to desensitize G-protein coupled receptors and further emphasizes opportunities for conotoxins as novel pharmacological tools and drug candidates.
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PMID:A marine analgesic peptide, Contulakin-G, and neurotensin are distinct agonists for neurotensin receptors: uncovering structural determinants of desensitization properties. 2571 32