Lipa Gene Mutation in PED-LIPIGEN (Pediatric FH Subjects)

Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a monogenic autosomal dominant disease also known as Autosomal Dominant Hypercholesterolemia - ADH) that leads to dramatically increased levels of Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and total cholesterol associated to tendon xanthomas, xanthelasma, corneal arcus, premature atherosclerosis and to an increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction.

FH is mainly caused by mutations in genes encoding for proteins affecting hepatic LDL cholesterol uptake including the LDL receptor (LDLR) gene or the gene encoding the only apolipoprotein of LDL, the apolipoprotein B (APOB), or the gene encoding a protease regulating LDLR levels on the cell membrane Lysosomal Acid Lipase A (LIPA) gene encode for Lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) enzyme responsible for hydrolyzing cholesterol esters and triglycerides that are delivered to lysosomes. Mutations in LIPA that completely inactivate LAL are the molecular cause of Wolman disease, a rapidly lethal disease of infancy while mutations in LIPA that result in residual enzymatic activity of LAL are responsible of a disorder characterized by a less severe phenotype known as cholesterol ester storage disease (CESD). Patients with CESD usually show a phenotype characterized by hepatic disease and mixed hyperlipidemia with elevated levels of LDL-C and triglycerides (TG) and decreased HDL-C levels.

A broader phenotypic presentation for loss of function mutations in LIPA suggests that LIPA mutations may be considered in patients with apparently monogenic FH in whom mutations in the known candidate genes are not detectable.

The project is aimed to evaluate the prevalence and the mutation rate of LIPA gene in subjects with a clinical diagnosis of FH and already genetically characterized in whom pathogenic mutations in the known candidate genes have not been identified. The analysis will be performed in about 250 FH pediatric subjects and putative causal mutations will be also tested for co-segregation in available families in affected and unaffected members.