Lysosomal acid lipase deficiency: one of the possible causes of dyslipidemia and hepatopathy

Overview

Rare autosomal recessive hereditary storage disease caused by deletion mutation of the LIPA gene may cause, among other things, development of dyslipidemia and liver dysfunction. This is a lysosomal acid lipase deficiency (LAL-D), the age of the disease manifestation and its progression depends on the type of mutation. If the disease manifestations occur during the first weeks after birth, it tends to have a fulminant course and the affected rarely survive six months of life. In older children and adults the symptoms tend to be milder and the disease manifests itself by any of the following symptoms: dyslipidemia, hepatomegaly, laboratory hepatopathy, the disease gradually progresses to lead to liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver failure. Another clinical manifestation is frequently cardiovascular complications which are not exceptional even in pediatric patients. Since these patients are often monitored by gastroenterologists, hepatologists or cardiologists, LAL-D is often underdiagnosed. This paper summarizes the manifestations of the disease and provides practical guidance on how to locate patients and diagnose this rare storage disease, including the design for a diagnostic algorithm with lysosomal acid lipase testing. The review also summarizes the current treatment options for patients with a confirmed diagnosis of LAL-D with the possibility of enzyme replacement therapy using a recombinant enzyme.

Keywords:

combination therapy – hepatomegaly – Wolman disease – cholesteryl ester storage disease – lysosomal acid lipase deficiency