Metabolic cutis laxa syndromes

Cutis laxa is a rare skin disorder characterized by wrinkled, redundant, inelastic and sagging skin due to defective synthesis of elastic fibers and other proteins of the extracellular matrix. Wrinkled, inelastic skin occurs in many cases as an acquired condition. Syndromic forms of cutis laxa, however, are caused by diverse genetic defects, mostly coding for structural extracellular matrix proteins. Surprisingly a number of metabolic disorders have been also found to be associated with inherited cutis laxa. Menkes disease was the first metabolic disease reported with old-looking, wrinkled skin. Cutis laxa has recently been found in patients with abnormal glycosylation. The discovery of the COG7 defect in patients with wrinkled, inelastic skin was the first genetic link with the Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDG). Since then several inborn errors of metabolism with cutis laxa have been described with variable severity. These include P5CS, ATP6V0A2-CDG and PYCR1 defects. In spite of the evolving number of cutis laxa-related diseases a large part of the cases remain genetically unsolved. In metabolic cutis laxa syndromes the clinical and laboratory features might partially overlap, however there are some distinct, discriminative features. In this review on metabolic diseases causing cutis laxa we offer a practical approach for the differential diagnosis of metabolic cutis laxa syndromes

The congenital disorders of glycosylation: a multifaceted group of syndromes.

The congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are a rapidly expanding group of metabolic syndromes with a wide symptomatology and severity. They all stem from deficient N-glycosylation of proteins. To date the group contains 18 different subtypes: 12 of Type I (disrupted synthesis of the lipid-linked oligosaccharide precursor) and 6 of Type II (malfunctioning trimming/processing of the protein-bound oligosaccharide). Main features of CDG involve psychomotor retardation; ataxia; seizures; retinopathy; liver fibrosis; coagulopathies; failure to thrive; dysmorphic features, including inverted nipples and subcutaneous fat pads; and strabismus. No treatment currently is available for the vast majority of these syndromes (CDG-Ib and CDG-IIc are exceptions), even though attempts to synthesize drugs for the most common subtype, CDG-Ia, have been made. In this review we will discuss the individual syndromes, with focus on their neuronal involvement, available and possible treatments, and future directions

Cutis laxa

Contains fulltext : 127730.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Cutis laxa is an inherited or acquired disease characterized by redundant, sagging and inelastic skin. In inherited cutis laxa an abnormal synthesis of extracellular matrix proteins occurs due to genetic defects coding for diverse extracellular matrix components. Recently, different inborn errors of metabolism have been found to be associated with cutis laxa as well. In some of these metabolic conditions the pathomechanism of cutis laxa remains unknown. Cutis laxa can be inherited in an autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive and X-linked recessive inheritance pattern. Besides the skin abnormalities, in most inherited forms multiple organ systems are involved, leading to a severe, in some forms even lethal, multisystem disorder. To date no effective treatment is available for cutis laxa. This chapter focuses on inherited forms of cutis laxa, offering a practical guideline for clinicians, biochemist and geneticist to diagnose and differentiate between the different forms of cutis laxa, and providing a concise theoretical reference