The Spanish Fabry women study: a retrospective observational study describing the phenotype of females with GLA variants

Background: Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked condition caused by variants in the GLA gene. Since females have two X chromosomes, they were historically thought to be carriers. Although increased knowledge has shown that females often develop the disease, data from Spain and other countries reported...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Sánchez R., Ripoll-Vera T., López-Mendoza M., de Juan-Ribera J., Gimeno J.R., Hermida Á., Ruz-Zafra M.A., Torregrosa J.V., Mora A., García-Pinilla J.M., Fortuny E., Aguinaga-Barrilero A., Torra R.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau)
Repositorio:r-IIB SANT PAU. Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica del Instituto de Investigación Biomédica Sant Pau
OAI Identifier:oai:iibsantpau.fundanetsuite.com:p15923
Acceso en línea:https://iibsantpau.fundanetsuite.com/Publicaciones/ProdCientif/PublicacionFrw.aspx?id=15923
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85145955880&doi=10.1186%2fs13023-022-02599-w&partnerID=40&md5=47551e9518db32c27efdd55f42c5a575
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:osteocalcin
adult
age
aged
Article
brain blood vessel
clinical feature
cohort analysis
comorbidity
controlled study
cornea verticillata
disease management
Europe
Fabry disease
family
female
follow up
frameshift mutation
gastrointestinal tract
gene deletion
gene identification
genetic association
genetic screening
genetic variability
GLA gene
heat
hemangiokeratoma
heterozygote
hospital
human
kidney
major clinical study
missense mutation
nonsense mutation
observational study
peripheral nervous system
phenotype
protein blood level
retrospective study
Spaniard
cognition
genetics
hereditary corneal dystrophy
Cognition
Corneal Dystrophies, Hereditary
Fabry Disease
Female
Humans
Phenotype
Retrospective Studies
Descripción
Sumario:Background: Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked condition caused by variants in the GLA gene. Since females have two X chromosomes, they were historically thought to be carriers. Although increased knowledge has shown that females often develop the disease, data from Spain and other countries reported that females were undertreated. The aim of this study was to provide a wider and more recent description of the disease characteristics and associated management of females with a GLA variant in a Spanish cohort. Results: Ninety-seven females from 12 hospitals were included in this retrospective study. Mean age was 50.1 ± 17.2 years. Median follow-up time from GLA variant identification was 36.1 months, and most (70.1%) were identified through family screening. Variants associated with classic/non-classic phenotypes were similarly distributed (40.2%/53.6%). Missense variants were the most prevalent (n = 84, 86.6%). In the overall group, 70.4% had major organ involvement (i.e., cardiac, renal, cerebrovascular, peripheral nervous system or gastrointestinal), and 47.3% also had typical Fabry signs (angiokeratoma, cornea verticillata or increased plasma lyso-Gb3). Cardiac involvement was the most prevalent (49.5%) and the main reason for treatment initiation. A total of 33 (34%) patients received disease-specific therapy, 55% of whom were diagnosed by family screening. Females carrying variants associated with a classic phenotype had higher frequencies of clinical manifestations (92.3%) and were predominant in the treated subgroup (69.7%). Despite this, there were 34 untreated females (56.7% of total untreated), with both phenotypes represented, who had major organ involvement, with 27 of cardiac, renal or cerebrovascular nature. Age or comorbidities in this subgroup were comparable to the treated subgroup (P = 0.8 and P = 0.8, respectively). Conclusions: Efforts have been made in recent years to diagnose and treat timely Fabry females in Spain. A high percentage of females with pathogenic variants, regardless of their associated phenotype, will likely develop disease. A proportion of females with severe disease in this cohort received specific treatment. Still a significant number of females, even with same profile as the treated ones, who may be eligible for treatment according to European recommendations, remained untreated. Reasons for this merit further investigation. © 2023, The Author(s).