Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of the Full 2015-2018 Cohort of Romanian Fabry Disease Patients.

BACKGROUND: Fabry disease (FD) is a rare genetic lysosomal disease with an estimated prevalence of 1:100000. Mutations on the GLA gene lead to alpha-galactosidase deficiency and multiorgan involvement due to sphingolipid accumulation. Our aim was to present and analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of the Fabry patients in Romania. METHODS: All known Fabry patients in Romania between 2015-2018 were prospectively included in the study. Data on personal history, family history and clinical parameters were collected and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The study included 42 patients with a mean age of 47±15 years, of which 19 (45%) were men and 23 (55%) women. Women were significantly older (52±15 years vs. 40±13 years, p=0.006) and presented similar prevalence of cardiac, renal, neurologic, ophthalmologic and otologic burden. The majority of patients presented organ damage, most prevalent being cardiac (48%), cutaneous (45%) and neurologic (52%) involvements. There were 20 families in total, comprising on average of 2.1 members each. Of the 20 families, only two had the same pathogenic GLA mutation. CONCLUSION: FD patients in our country show a significant degree of multiorgan involvement with important psychological and social impact on the patients and their families. Women with Fabry disease show similar disease burden as men, but at a later age.

Role of the biomarkers for the diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

OBJECTIVE: Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a human prion disease, rapidly progressive and fatal, characterized by spongiform encephalopathy. The characteristic triad of signs - rapidly progressive dementia, myoclonus and periodic sharp wave complexes (PSWC) on electroencephalography (EEG) - usually appear in the late stages of the disease. The clinical diagnosis of CJD ante-mortem involves the exclusion of the rapidly progressive non-prionic dementias, the definitive diagnosis requiring brain tissue confirmation. Authors evaluated the methods of clinical diagnosis for sporadic CJD. METHODS: This study retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients diagnosed with probable sporadic CJD, based on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), EEG, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis and extensive laboratory work-up. RESULTS: Four patients with a mean age of 67 years were included in our study. The mean duration from diagnosis until death was of 3.2 weeks. The clinical features of the disease at onset were atypical. In the final stage of the disease, all patients presented rapidly progressive dementia and myoclonus. High levels of 14-3-3 protein and tau protein and normal levels of amyloid ß1-42 were found at CSF analysis, in all patients. PSWC on EEG were present in 3 out of 4 patients at different moments of the disease. MRI showed hyperintense lesions in brain cortex, caudate nucleus, and putamen on T2, FLAIR, and DWI. CONCLUSION: CJD may present various clinical features and, since brain biopsy is usually difficult to perform, a combination of biomarkers is useful in order to establish the diagnosis in the early phase of the disease.

Mesenchymal stem cells in multiple sclerosis - translation to clinical trials.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, characterized by an aberrant activation of the immune system and combining demyelination with neurodegeneration. Studies on experimental models of multiple sclerosis revealed immunomodulatory and immunosuppressive properties of mesenchymal stem cells. Clinical trials using mesenchymal stem cells therapy in multiple sclerosis patients showed tolerability, safety on short term, some immunomodulatory properties reducing the Th1 proinflammatory response and the inflammatory MRI parameters. The author reviews the data about experimental studies and clinical trials using mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.