Summary
Wolcott-Rallison syndrome (WRS) (OMIM 226980) is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder with infancy-onset diabetes mellitus, multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, osteopenia, mental retardation or developmental delay, and hepatic and renal dysfunction as main clinical findings. Patients with WRS have mutations in the EIF2AK3 gene, which encodes the pancreatic eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-alpha kinase 3. We report a female patient who developed insulin-requiring diabetes at 2.5 months of age. Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia was diagnosed at age 2 years. At age 5.5 years she developed a Reye-like syndrome with hypoketotic hypoglycaemia and renal and hepatic insufficiency and died. A partial autopsy showed fat infiltration in the liver and kidneys. Examination of urine by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry showed large amounts of C6-dicarboxylic acid (adipic acid), 3-hydroxy-C8-dicarboxylic acid, 3-hydroxy-C10-dicarboxylic acid, and 3-hydroxydecenedioic acid. Acetoacetate and 3-hydroxybutyrate were absent. The findings suggested a metabolic block in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation, but lack of material precluded enzyme analyses. The clinical diagnosis of WRS was suggested in retrospect, and confirmed by sequencing of DNA extracted from stored autopsy material. The patient was compound heterozygous for the novel EIF2AK3 mutations c.1694_1695delAT (Y565X) and c.3044T > C (F1015S). Our data suggest that disruption of the EIF2AK3 gene may lead to defective mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and hypoglycaemia, thus adding to the heterogeneous phenotype of WRS.
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Abbreviations
- eIF2α:
-
eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-alpha
- PERK:
-
eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2-alpha kinase 3
- WRS:
-
Wolcott–Rallison syndrome
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Ms. Solrun Steine for expert assistance with DNA sequencing.
The study was partly funded by the University of Bergen, Haukeland University Hospital and the Research Council of Norway.
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Communicating editor: Georg Hoffmann
JIMD Short Report #106 (2008) Online
Competing interests: None declared
References to electronic databases: Wolcott-Rallison syndrome (epiphyseal dysplasia, multiple, with early-onset diabetes mellitus): OMIM 226980.
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Søvik, O., Njølstad, P.R., Jellum, E. et al. Wolcott–Rallison syndrome with 3-hydroxydicarboxylic aciduria and lethal outcome. J Inherit Metab Dis 31 (Suppl 2), 293–297 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10545-008-0866-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10545-008-0866-1