Menkes' kinky hair disease. I. Comparison of classical and unusual clinical and biochemical features in two patients.

Two patients with Menkes' kinky hair disease were examined. Both showed the characteristic clinical features of this disease in combination with a low plasma-copper level. However, for one of them, studies with 64Cu provided clues that the copper was handled in a way unusual for a Menkes patient, viz., incorporation of 64Cu into ceruloplasmin during an oral 64Cu-loading test and abnormal behavior of skin fibroblasts in in vitro experiments. A comparison with brindled mice and some clinical aspects, viz., the age at death, the quality of the hair and the macrocephaly, of both patients are discussed.