Heptanoic and medium branched-chain fatty acids as anaplerotic treatment for medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency

Abstract

Triheptanoin (triheptanoylglycerol) has shown value as anaplerotic therapy for patients with long chain fatty acid oxidation disorders but is contraindicated in medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency. In search for anaplerotic therapy for patients with MCAD deficiency, fibroblasts from three patients homozygous for the most common mutation, ACADMG985A/G985A, were treated with fatty acids hypothesized not to require MCAD for their metabolism, including heptanoic (C7; the active component of triheptanoin), 2,6-dimethylheptanoic (dMC7), 6-amino-2,4-dimethylheptanoic (AdMC7), or 4,8-dimethylnonanoic (dMC9) acids. Their effectiveness as anaplerotic fatty acids was assessed in live cells by monitoring changes in cellular oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and mitochondrial protein lysine succinylation, which reflects cellular succinyl-CoA levels, using immunofluorescence (IF) staining. Krebs cycle intermediates were also quantitated in these cells using targeted metabolomics. The four fatty acids induced positive changes in OCR parameters, consistent with their oxidative catalysis and utilization. Increases in cellular IF staining of succinylated lysines were observed, indicating that the fatty acids were effective sources of succinyl-CoA in the absence of media glucose, pyruvate, and lipids. The ability of MCAD deficient cells to metabolize C7 was confirmed by the ability of extracts to enzymatically utilize C7-CoA as substrate but not C8-CoA. To evaluate C7 therapeutic potential in vivo, Acadm-/- mice were treated with triheptanoin for seven days. Dose dependent increase in plasma levels of heptanoyl-, valeryl-, and propionylcarnitine indicated efficient metabolism of the medication. The pattern of the acylcarnitine profile paralleled resolution of liver pathology including reversing hepatic steatosis, increasing hepatic glycogen content, and increasing hepatocyte protein succinylation, all indicating improved energy homeostasis in the treated mice. These results provide the impetus to evaluate triheptanoin and the medium branched chain fatty acids as potential therapeutic agents for patients with MCAD deficiency.