Long term longitudinal study of muscle function in patients with glycogen storage disease type IIIa.

Glycogen storage disease type III (GSDIII) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the AGL gene coding for the glycogen debranching enzyme. Current therapy is based on dietary adaptations but new preclinical therapies are emerging. The identification of outcome measures which are sensitive to disease progression becomes critical to assess the efficacy of new treatments in upcoming clinical trials. In order to prepare future longitudinal studies or therapeutic trials with large cohorts, information about disease progression is required. In this study we present preliminary longitudinal data of Motor Function Measure (MFM), timed tests, Purdue pegboard test, and handgrip strength collected over 5 to 9years of follow-up in 13 patients with GSDIII aged between 13 and 56years old. Follow-up for nine of the 13 patients was up to 9years. Similarly to our previous cross-sectional retrospective study, handgrip strength significantly decreased with age in patients older than 37years. MFM scores started to decline after the age of 35. The Purdue pegboard score also significantly reduced with increasing age (from 13years of age) but with large inter-visit variations. The time to stand up from a chair or to climb 4 stairs increased dramatically in some but not all patients older than 30years old. In conclusion, this preliminary longitudinal study suggests that MFM and handgrip strength are the most sensitive muscle function outcome measures in GSDIII patients from the end of their third decade. Sensitive muscle outcome measures remain to be identified in younger GSDIII patients but is challenging as muscle symptoms remain discrete and often present as accumulated fatigue.

Cross-sectional retrospective study of muscle function in patients with glycogen storage disease type III.

Glycogen storage disease type III is an inherited metabolic disorder characterized by liver and muscle impairment. This study aimed to identify promising muscle function measures for future studies on natural disease progression and therapeutic trials. The age-effect on the manual muscle testing (MMT), the hand-held dynamometry (HHD), the motor function measure (MFM) and the Purdue pegboard test was evaluated by regression analysis in a cross-sectional retrospective single site study. In patients aged between 13 and 56 years old, the Purdue pegboard test and dynamometry of key pinch and knee extension strength were age-sensitive with annual losses of 1.49, 1.10 and 0.70% of the predicted values (%pred), respectively. The MFM score and handgrip strength were also age-sensitive but only in patients older than 29 and 37 years old with annual losses of 1.42 and 1.84%pred, respectively. Muscle strength assessed by MMT and elbow extension measured by HHD demonstrated an annual loss of less than 0.50%pred and are thus unlikely to be promising outcome measures for future clinical trials. In conclusion, our results identified age-sensitive outcomes from retrospective data and may serve for future longitudinal studies in which an estimation of the minimal number of subjects is provided.