Department of Metabolic Diseases, Erasmus Medical Center, Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Pediatrics, Metabolic Unit, University Hospital, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2018 Oct 18;8(1):15436. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-33457-0.
N-acetylglutamate synthase deficiency (NAGSD, MIM #237310) is an autosomal recessive disorder of the urea cycle that results from absent or decreased production of N-acetylglutamate (NAG) due to either decreased NAGS gene expression or defective NAGS enzyme. NAG is essential for the activity of carbamylphosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1), the first and rate-limiting enzyme of the urea cycle. NAGSD is the only urea cycle disorder that can be treated with a single drug, N-carbamylglutamate (NCG), which can activate CPS1 and completely restore ureagenesis in patients with NAGSD. We describe a novel sequence variant NM_153006.2:c.-3026C > T in the NAGS enhancer that was found in three patients from two families with NAGSD; two patients had hyperammonemia that resolved upon treatment with NCG, while the third patient increased dietary protein intake after initiation of NCG therapy. Two patients were homozygous for the variant while the third patient had the c.-3026C > T variant and a partial uniparental disomy that encompassed the NAGS gene on chromosome 17. The c.-3026C > T sequence variant affects a base pair that is highly conserved in vertebrates; the variant is predicted to be deleterious by several bioinformatics tools. Functional assays in cultured HepG2 cells demonstrated that the c.-3026C > T substitution could result in reduced expression of the NAGS gene. These findings underscore the importance of analyzing NAGS gene regulatory regions when looking for molecular causes of NAGSD.
N-乙酰谷氨酸合酶缺乏症(NAGSD,MIM#237310)是一种常染色体隐性遗传的尿素循环障碍,由于 N-乙酰谷氨酸(NAG)的产生减少或缺失,导致 N-乙酰谷氨酸合酶(NAGS)基因表达降低或 NAGS 酶缺陷,从而导致 N-乙酰谷氨酸合酶缺乏症。NAG 是氨甲酰磷酸合成酶 1(CPS1)的必需辅助因子,CPS1 是尿素循环的第一个限速酶。NAGSD 是唯一可以用一种药物治疗的尿素循环障碍,即 N-乙酰谷氨酸(NCG),它可以激活 CPS1,使 NAGSD 患者的尿素生成完全恢复。我们描述了一种新的 NAGS 增强子中的序列变异 NM_153006.2:c.-3026C > T,该变异在两个 NAGSD 患者家系的 3 名患者中被发现;其中 2 名患者有高氨血症,在接受 NCG 治疗后得到缓解,而第 3 名患者在开始 NCG 治疗后增加了饮食中的蛋白质摄入。2 名患者为该变异的纯合子,而第 3 名患者则携带 c.-3026C > T 变异和部分单亲二体性,该变异涵盖了 17 号染色体上的 NAGS 基因。c.-3026C > T 序列变异影响了脊椎动物中高度保守的碱基对;几种生物信息学工具预测该变异具有有害性。在培养的 HepG2 细胞中的功能测定表明,c.-3026C > T 取代可能导致 NAGS 基因表达降低。这些发现强调了在寻找 NAGSD 分子病因时分析 NAGS 基因调控区的重要性。