Association of metreleptin treatment and dietary intervention with neurological outcomes in Celia's encephalopathy

Eur J Hum Genet. 2018 Mar;26(3):396-406. doi: 10.1038/s41431-017-0052-8. Epub 2018 Jan 24.

Abstract

Celia's encephalopathy (progressive encephalopathy with/without lipodystrophy, PELD) is a recessive neurodegenerative disease that is fatal in childhood. It is caused by a c.985C>T variant in the BSCL2/seipin gene that results in an aberrant seipin protein. We evaluated neurological development before and during treatment with human recombinant leptin (metreleptin) plus a dietary intervention rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in the only living patient. A 7 years and 10 months old girl affected by PELD was treated at age 3 years with metreleptin, adding at age 6 omega-3 fatty acid supplementation. Her mental age was evaluated using the Battelle Developmental Inventory Screening Test (BDI), and brain PET/MRI was performed before treatment and at age 5, 6.5, and 7.5 years. At age 7.5 years, the girl remains alive and leads a normal life for her mental age of 30 months, which increased by 4 months over the last 18 months according to BDI. PET images showed improved glucose uptake in the thalami, cerebellum, and brainstem. This patient showed a clear slowdown in neurological regression during leptin replacement plus a high PUFA diet. The aberrant BSCL2 transcript was overexpressed in SH-SY5Y cells and was treated with docosahexaenoic acid (200 µM) plus leptin (0.001 mg/ml) for 24 h. The relative expression of aberrant BSCL2 transcript was measured by qPCR. In vitro studies showed significant reduction (32%) in aberrant transcript expression. This therapeutic approach should be further studied in this devastating disease.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Brain Diseases / diet therapy
  • Brain Diseases / drug therapy*
  • Brain Diseases / genetics
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Child
  • Diet
  • Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / administration & dosage
  • Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / therapeutic use*
  • Female
  • GTP-Binding Protein gamma Subunits / genetics
  • GTP-Binding Protein gamma Subunits / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Leptin / administration & dosage
  • Leptin / analogs & derivatives*
  • Leptin / therapeutic use
  • Lipodystrophy / diet therapy
  • Lipodystrophy / drug therapy*
  • Lipodystrophy / genetics
  • Syndrome

Substances

  • BSCL2 protein, human
  • Fatty Acids, Unsaturated
  • GTP-Binding Protein gamma Subunits
  • Leptin
  • metreleptin