Selective screening and molecular characteristics of Russian patients with Pompe disease

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Introduction. Pompe disease (PD) or type II glycogenosis is a rare multisystem hereditary accumulation disease caused by a deficiency of the enzyme acid maltase (acid alpha-1,4-glucosidase), which leads to reduced activity to the accumulation of glycogen in various organs and tissues of the body. The aim of the study is to develop a high-performance method of early biochemical diagnosis of PD and optimization of its molecular genetic diagnosis. Materials and methods. The characteristics of the relative frequencies and spectrum of the detected mutations were studied using a sample of 7670 patients with suspected Pompe disease admitted to the National Medical Research Center of Children’s Health of the Ministry of Health of Russia as part of the selective screening, as well as eight patients with PD, whose laboratory diagnosis was made outside the framework of this selective screening. Results. As a result of selective screening of PD in Russian patients from high-risk groups, the detectability was 0.47%. PD’s clinical and age characteristics in both children and adults are described. The relative frequencies are calculated, and the spectrum of 47 pathogenic variants of the GAA gene responsible for the occurrence and development of Pompe disease in 44 patients is characterized. Seventeen new mutations of the GAA gene, unknown previously, have been identified and described, adding 2.7% to the HGMD database. Conclusion. Optimization of the algorithm of molecular diagnosis of Pompe disease in Russian patients is proposed.