Heart Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Heart Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Novel Lamp-2 gene mutation and successful treatment with heart transplantation in a large family with Danon disease.

Echaniz-Laguna A, Mohr M, Epailly E, Nishino I, Charron P, Richard P, Guiraud-Chaumeil C, Tranchant C

Département de Neurologie, Hôpital Civil, 1 Place de l'Hôpital, BP426, 67091 Strasbourg, France. echaniz-laguna@medecine.u-strasbg.fr

Lysosome-associated membrane protein-2 deficiency (LAMP-2 deficiency), or Danon disease, is a rare X-linked lysosomal disease characterized by cardiomyopathy, vacuolar myopathy, and mental retardation. Less than 20 families with mutations of the Lamp-2 gene have been reported. We describe a family from Sardinia with eight affected patients (4 females and 4 males) and a novel mutation in exon 2 of the Lamp-2 gene (c.102_103delAG). Females developed isolated cardiomyopathy in adulthood, whereas males presented with cardiomyopathy, myopathy, and mental retardation before the age of 20 years. Cardiomyopathy was lethal in three females in their 40s and in three males before the age 20 years. One patient was successfully treated by heart transplantation with more than 5-year follow-up. This study demonstrates that Danon disease is a frequently fatal condition that is potentially treatable with heart transplantation.

Published 27 March 2006 in Muscle Nerve, 33(3): 393-7.
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