Congenital disorder of glycosylation type Ic: report of a Japanese case

Abstract

Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are inherited metabolic diseases affecting N-linked glycosylation pathways with variable clinical presentations characterized by psychomotor retardation, seizures, ataxia and hypotonia. CDG-Ic is caused by mutation in the ALG6 gene encoding alpha-1,3-glucosyltransferase. We present a 9-year-old girl diagnosed as having CDG-Ic. She developed severe psychomotor retardation, epileptic seizures, muscle hypotonia, strabismus and some dysmorphic features without inverted nipples or fat pads. She showed a fluctuating serum transaminase level with or without some infection, and a characteristically low level of antithrombin III. MR imaging of the brain at age 2years demonstrated the lower limit of normal myelination, mild atrophy of the cerebrum, and mild hypoplasia of the brainstem and cerebellum. The patient exhibited a CDG type I pattern of serum transferrin on isoelectric focusing and mass spectrometric profiling. Sequence analysis of the ALG6 gene showed two heterozygous mutations, c.998C>T (A333V) and c.1061C>T (P354L). The patient was diagnosed as having CDG-Ic with a novel mutation, making her the first Japanese case. It was suggested that the severe psychomotor retardation in the patient was due to the existence of multiple mutant ALG6 alleles.