Osteonecrosis in Gaucher Disease in the era of multiple therapies: biomarker set for risk stratification from a tertiary referral center
- Yale University, United States
- Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran
- University of Toronto, Canada
- University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, United States
- Sanofi, United States
Abstract
Background: A salutary effect of treatments for Gaucher disease (GD) has been reduction in the incidence of avascular osteonecrosis (AVN). However, there are reports of AVN in patients receiving enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), and it is not known whether it is related to individual treatments, GBA genotypes, phenotypes, biomarkers of residual disease activity or anti-drug antibodies.
Objective: Prompted by development of AVN in several patients receiving ERT, we aimed to delineate the determinants of AVN in patients receiving ERT or eliglustat substrate reduction therapy (SRT) during 20 years in a tertiary referral center.
Methods: Longitudinal follow-ups of 155 GD patients between 2001 and 2021, were analyzed for episodes of AVN on therapy, type of therapy, GBA1 genotype, spleen status, biomarkers, and other disease indicators. We applied mixed-effects logistic model to delineate the independent correlates of AVN while receiving treatment.
Results: The patients received cumulative 1382 years of treatment. There were 16 episodes of AVN in 14 patients, with two episodes, each occurring in two patients. Heteroallelic p.Asn409Ser GD1 patients were 10 times (95% CI,1.5 - 67.2) more likely than p.Asn409Ser homozygous patients to develop osteonecrosis during treatment. History of AVN prior to treatment initiation was associated with 4.8-fold increased risk of AVN on treatment (95% CI, 1.5-15.2). The risk of AVN among patients receiving velaglucerase ERT was 4.68 times higher compared to patients receiving imiglucerase ERT (95% CI,1.67-13). No patient receiving eliglustat SRT suffered AVN. There was a significant correlation between GlcSph levels and AVN. Together, these biomarkers reliably predicted risk of AVN during therapy (ROC AUC 0.894, p<0.001).
Conclusions: There is a low, but significant risk of AVN in GD in the era of ERT/SRT. We found increased risk of AVN was related to GBA genotype, history of AVN prior to treatment initiation, residual serum GlcSph level, and the type of ERT. No patient receiving SRT developed AVN. These findings exemplify a new approach to biomarker applications in a rare inborn error of metabolism to evaluate clinical outcomes in comprehensively followed patients and will aid identification of GD patients at higher risk of AVN who will benefit from closer monitoring and treatment optimization.
Funding: LSD Training Fellowship from Sanofi to MB.
Data availability
This observational study is approved by Yale University IRB and each patient provided informed consent. The patients have not provided consent to sharing their data with other investigators. Interested academic, non-commercial researchers can contact the Senior Corresponding author, Dr Pramod Mistry at Pramod.mistry@yale.edu to discuss the request to access original data. They do not need to apply or submit a project proposal. All statistical analyses were performed with SPSS version 28 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). MedCalc version 20.026 was used for ROC curve analysis and graphs were plotted by GraphPad Prism version 9.3.1.We do not have consent to share individual patient data. Even de-identified data risks identification through age and GBA genotype information, thus violating HIPPA patient confidentiality. Upon request to the Senior Corresponding author, the PI, we will share processed version of datasets.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Sanofi Genzyme (LSD Training Fellowship from Sanofi to MB)
- Mohsen Basiri
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: All participants were enrolled in our observational studies approved by Yale's IRB. Patients also were provided with verbal explanations and their data were collected after signing consent forms.HIC#0209021074HIC#1005006783
Reviewing Editor
- Jameel Iqbal, DaVita Labs, United States
Version history
- Received: March 8, 2023
- Preprint posted: March 27, 2023 (view preprint)
- Accepted: May 22, 2023
- Accepted Manuscript published: May 30, 2023 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: July 3, 2023 (version 2)
Copyright
© 2023, Basiri et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Osteonecrosis in Gaucher Disease in the era of multiple therapies: biomarker set for risk stratification from a tertiary referral center
eLife 12:e87537.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.87537
Further reading
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- Medicine
Background: Compelling evidence has accumulated on the role of oxidative stress on the endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction underlying acute coronary syndrome. However, unveiling the underlying metabolic determinants has been hampered by the scarcity of appropriate cell models to address cell-autonomous mechanisms of ED dysfunction.
Methods: We have generated endothelial cells derived from thrombectomy specimens from patients affected with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and conducted phenotypical and metabolic characterization, focused on central carbon metabolism.
Results: AMI-derived endothelial cells (AMIECs), but not control healthy coronary endothelial cells, display impaired growth, migration and tubulogenesis. Metabolically, AMIECs displayed augmented reactive oxygen species (ROS) and glutathione intracellular content, along with a diminished glucose consumption coupled to high lactate production. Consistent with diminished glycolysis in AMIECs, the protein levels of 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase type 3, PFKFB3, were downregulated. In contrast, PFKFB4 levels were upregulated, suggesting a shunting of glycolysis towards the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), supported by upregulation in AMIECs of G6PD, the key enzyme in the oxidative branch of the PPP. Further, the glutaminolytic enzyme GLS was upregulated in AMIECs, providing a mechanistic explanation for the observed increase in glutathione content. Finally, AMIECs displayed a significantly higher mitochondrial membrane potential than control ECs, which, together with high ROS levels, suggest a highly coupled mitochondrial activity in patient ECs.
Conclusions: We suggest high mitochondrial proton coupling underlies the abnormally high production of ROS, balanced by PPP- and glutaminolysis-driven synthesis of glutathione, as a primary, cell-autonomous abnormality driving EC dysfunction in AMI.
Funding: European Commission Horizon 2020; CIBER- Carlos III National Institute of Health, Spain; Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) and Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain; Generalitat de Catalunya-AGAUR, Catalonia; Plataforma Temática Interdisciplinar Salud Global (PTI-SG), Spain; British Heart Foundation, UK.
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- Medicine
Reproducible research and open science practices have the potential to accelerate scientific progress by allowing others to reuse research outputs, and by promoting rigorous research that is more likely to yield trustworthy results. However, these practices are uncommon in many fields, so there is a clear need for training that helps and encourages researchers to integrate reproducible research and open science practices into their daily work. Here, we outline eleven strategies for making training in these practices the norm at research institutions. The strategies, which emerged from a virtual brainstorming event organized in collaboration with the German Reproducibility Network, are concentrated in three areas: (i) adapting research assessment criteria and program requirements; (ii) training; (iii) building communities. We provide a brief overview of each strategy, offer tips for implementation, and provide links to resources. We also highlight the importance of allocating resources and monitoring impact. Our goal is to encourage researchers – in their roles as scientists, supervisors, mentors, instructors, and members of curriculum, hiring or evaluation committees – to think creatively about the many ways they can promote reproducible research and open science practices in their institutions.
