Patient demographics
Demographics of Malaysian patients is presented in Table 1. Out of 4338 patients who were clinically suspected of having LSD, 92 (2.1%) were diagnosed with 15 different subtypes. The gender distribution was almost balance between males and females with 55.4% and 44.6%, respectively. Most patients (93.6%) were below the age of 18 years at diagnosis. Individuals at or over the age of 18 years were considered as adults. Nearly 50% of adult cases were diagnosed with adult form of MPS IV. Most of our patients (44.6%) were originated from central region. In general, the age median at diagnosis was 2.54 years, ranging from 0.01 (4 days) to 40 years. Comparing to this, MPS Type IVA patients were diagnosed 7 years late whereas MPS Type I patients were diagnosed as early as 1 year of age.
Distribution of LSD subtypes
We diagnosed fifteen subtypes of LSD. The MPS (51.1%) was the most common group followed by sphingolipidoses (33.7%), Pompe (9.8%) and mucolipidoses type II (5.4%). No patient was diagnosed with α-mannosidosis, β-mannosidosis, Schindler disease, MPS Type IIIC/IIID nor MPS Type VII.
In the MPS group, MPS Type II (31.9%) represented more than quarter of all MPS cases followed by MPS Type IVA (21.3%), MPS Type VI (19.1%), MPS Type I (14.9%), MPS Type IIIA (8.5%) and MPS Type IIIB (4.3%). As for the sphingolipidoses group, out of 31 patients, nearly half of the cases were diagnosed as Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) (48.4%), followed by fucosidosis (12.9%), GM1 gangliosidosis (12.9%), Gaucher (12.9%), GM2 gangliosidosis (Sandhoff) (6.5%), Krabbe (3.2%) and Fabry (3.2%). Nine (9) patients were diagnosed with Pompe disease, with majority of them were infantile onset.
The prevalence of LSD in Malaysia, and its comparison with four other countries, is shown in Table 2. The prevalence of LSD among Malaysian was 0.43 per 100,000 live births or 1 in 231,904 live births. This rate was 26-fold lower compared to UAE (Asian) and Northern Portugal (European). Similar to this study, the most prevalent LSD in Northern Portugal, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic were sphingolipidoses and MPS. There were between-country differences in the prevalence of individual types of diagnosed LSD, not only between Malaysia, UAE and European countries, but also between UAE and the European countries. For example, Fabry and MPS II were the most prevalent in Malaysia; while GM2 and Pompe were common in Northern Portugal and the Netherlands respectively. Among Asian population, GM1 is five times higher is UAE compared to Malaysian but MPS II is relatively high in Malaysia compared to UAE.
We found that Chinese were 17 times more likely to have Pompe disease compared to others (OR 16.98, 95% CI 3.52–81.88, p < 0.05). We noted out of 9 Pompe patients, 7 were Chinese and the c.1935C > A p.(Asp645Glu) was the pathogenic mutation detected in all of them.
Mutations Analysis
Sequencing analyses of the GAA, FUCA1, GBA, ARSA and GLNS genes had successfully identified mutations in LSD patients with low or undetected enzyme activity. Twenty-three (23) mutations associated with LSD were identified in Malaysia (Table 3). The mutations detected include missense, nonsense, small deletions, duplications and splicing. In patients with MLD, three missense mutations, c,116dupG p.(Cys40Leufs*36), c.746 T > C p.(Phe249Ser) and c.922T > C p.(Tyr308His) were observed in ARSA gene which were also reported in patients with metachromatic leukodystrophy [12, 13].
Among the patients with Pompe disease, five missense mutations (c.1A > G p.(Met1Val), c.1561G > A p.(GLu521Lys), c.1843G > A p.(Gly615Arg), c.1935C > A p.(Asp645Glu) and c.2238G > C p.(Trp746Cys)), two small nucleotide deletions (c.2815_2816delGT p.(Val939Leufs*78) and c.2024_2026delACA p.(Asn675del)) were detected in GAA gene. One patient demonstrated a splice site mutation at c.1551 + 1G > A in GAA gene. This mutation is at canonical splice site sequences that may lead to exon skipping during pre-MRNA splicing and eventually resulting in aberrant protein synthesis.
In patients with MPS IVA, one splicing mutation (c.1364 + 1 G > A) p.(?), two missense mutations c.953T > G p.(Met318Arg) and c.503G > T p.(Gly168Val), one small nucleotides deletion c.106-111delCTGCTC p.(?) and 3 nonsense mutations c.473_477delAGTGG p.(Glu158Valfs*12), c.551G > A p.(Trp184*) and c.502G > T p.(Gly168*l) were found in GALNS gene. Most of the mutations were found to be clustered in exon 5 of GALNS gene. While in Gaucher, c.1389-3 C > G p.(?), c.1448T > G p.(Leu483Arg) and c.1448 T > C p.(Leu483Pro) mutations were detected in GBA gene.
With respect to Fucosidosis, two homozygous nonsense mutations were presented in four unrelated patients, c.393T > A p.(Tyr131*) and c.1295G > A p.(Trp432*) in FUCA1 gene. Changes from T to A at nucleotide 393 was predicted to create a truncated α-L-fucosidase protein. This mutation was previously reported in two separate studies, involving patients of Chinese origin [14, 15]. The c.1295G > A mutation caused substitution from amino acid Trp to a stop codon that subsequently led to a truncated protein. This mutation is located in a highly conserved region.
Table 3 also shows distribution of the selected LSD mutations in Malaysian ethnicity. Pompe disorder was mainly presented in Chinese ethnicity. The three distinct mutations in GBA gene were found only in Malay ethnicity. As for MPS IVA, the mutation c.473_477delAGTGG and c.502G > T were found only in Malay ethnicity whereas mutation c.218A > G and c.551G > A were revealed in Indian ethnicity. Meanwhile, a few numbers of patients from Chinese descendant showed mutation c.106-111delCTGCTC and c.953T > G. Interestingly, fucosidosis mainly presented in three unrelated Iban patients and inherited from the parents involving homozygous p.(Trp432*) mutation in FUCA1gene.