Classic infantile‐onset Pompe disease with histopathological neurologic findings linked to a novel GAA gene 4 bp deletion: A case study

Abstract

Abstract Pompe disease (PD) is an autosomal recessive disorder by a deficiency of acid α‐glucosidase (GAA) with intralysosomal glycogen accumulation in multiple tissues. We present the case of a 5‐month‐old male with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, hypotony, feeding difficulties, and oxygen requirement since birth. At 3 months of age, he develops heart failure, respiratory impairment, and neurological deterioration. The echocardiogram revealed concentric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with left‐diastolic dysfunction. We found increased creatine‐phosphokinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and urinary glucose tetrasaccharide levels, 50% of PAS‐positive vacuolated lymphocytes in the peripheral blood smear, and low GAA activity. Sequencing of coding exons and flanking intronic sequences revealed a novel homozygous 4 bp deletion in exon 15 of the GAA gene (c.2066_2069delAGCC/p.Glu689Glyfs*6). IOPD was diagnosed. At 5 months old, we started enzyme replacement therapy with an alpha‐alglucosidase of 20 mg/kg weekly and immunomodulation with intravenous immunoglobulin. He developed two cardiorespiratory arrests with subsequent neurologic deterioration, convulsive crisis, and respiratory failure and died at 9 months old. We found the usual PD hallmarks in the heart, striated muscle, and liver but also we found neuronal lesions characterized by cytoplasm vacuolization with PAS‐positive granules in the central nervous system and myenteric plexus. We describe a novel GAA gene pathogenic variant with a particular phenotype characterized by classic IOPD and neurologic histopathological findings. Enhancing the knowledge of lysosomal diseases is critical to improving the diagnosis and treatment of these patients.

Keywords

• acid alpha‐glucosidase
• c.2066_2069delAGCC
• GAA gene
• infantile‐onset Pompe disease
• neurologic
• p.Glu689Glyfs*6