• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.37-41
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• 2014

Fabry disease is an X-linked disease caused by deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme alpha-galactosidase A. Affected males present anhydrosis, acroparesthesia and angiokeratoma, and subsequently cardiac, cerebral and renal complications are followed. Females and atypical variants show heterogeneous clinical symptoms. In 2001, two recombinant enzymes were approved for Fabry disease: agalsidase alpha and agalsidase beta. Since the introduction of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), the number of long-term follow-up studies has been reported. Long-term ERT showed effectiveness on renal function in patients with chronic kidney disease, decrease or stabilization of left ventricular mass, and improvement of pain and quality of life. However, there were limited effects on cerebrovascular events and their mortality. Current literatures on the clinical effect of ERT have reported limited datain adult patients who have already advanced disease. Therefore, further study for pre-symptomatic patients and atypical variants is needed to verify the impact of ERT. This review summarized recent progresses in ERT and limitations of long-term effect of ERT in patients with Fabry disease.

• BMB Reports
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.157-162
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• 2013

Human ${\alpha}$-galactosidase A (GLA) has been used in enzyme replacement therapy for patients with Fabry disease. We expressed recombinant GLA from Chinese hamster ovary cells with very high productivity. When compared to an approved GLA (agalsidase beta), its size and charge were found to be smaller and more neutral. These differences resulted from the lack of terminal sialic acids playing essential roles in the serum half-life and proper tissue targeting. Because a simple sialylation reaction was not enough to increase the sialic acid content, a combined reaction using galactosyltransferase, sialyltransferase, and their sugar substrates at the same time was developed and optimized to reduce the incubation time. The product generated by this reaction had nearly the same size, isoelectric points, and sialic acid content as agalsidase beta. Furthermore, it had better in vivo efficacy to degrade the accumulated globotriaosylceramide in target organs of Fabry mice compared to an unmodified version.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.207-210
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• 2010

Fabry disease is an X-linked lysosomal disease caused by deficiency of ${\alpha}$-galactosidase, in which early diagnosis may be missed due to the wide variety of clinical symptoms presenting during disease progression. A 13 year-old boy visited our pain clinic complaining of pricking and burning pain in the toe tips of both feet. Continuous epidural infusion for pain management was performed because of oral analgesics ineffectiveness. The patient underwent ${\alpha}$-galactosidase A (GLA) enzyme analysis based on the clinical impression of Fabry disease from pain with a peripheral neuropathic component and history of anhidrosis. He was diagnosed with Fabry disease after confirming mutation of the GLA gene through a screening test of GLA activity. Enzyme replacement therapy was initiated and pain was tolerated with oral analgesics.