Isolated hypermethioninemia: measurements of S-adenosylmethionine and choline

The concentrations of methionine and S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) in plasma and free choline and phospholipid-bound choline in both plasma and red blood cells from individuals with isolated hypermethioninemia have been measured. The only genetic abnormalities identified in these individuals have been inactivating mutations in MAT1A, the gene that encodes the subunit of the isozymes of methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT), MAT I, and MAT III, expressed only in adult liver. These measurements were performed to learn more about AdoMet metabolism and to test the working hypotheses that inadequate delivery of AdoMet, or of choline or a choline derivative, from liver to brain might be a cause of the neurologic disease often found in humans with the most severe losses of MAT I/III activity. In striking contrast to the elevations of plasma AdoMet reported in control humans with hypermethioninemia resulting from methionine loading, plasma AdoMet levels were generally below the mean reference value in the MAT I/II-deficient hypermethioninemic patients. This is interpreted as a result of subnormal formation of AdoMet in liver due to the deficient activity of MAT I/III and resultant lower-than-normal delivery of AdoMet from liver to plasma. A low plasma AdoMet concentration in the presence of an elevated methionine provides a useful diagnostic tool that pinpoints the cause of a case of hypermethioninemia as defective MAT I/III activity. Plasma-free choline concentrations were also generally somewhat below normal in the hypermethioninemic patients. However, neither plasma AdoMet nor plasma choline concentrations were strikingly lower in MAT I/III-deficient individuals with neurologic abnormalities than in those without. These results thus fail to provide support for the working hypotheses in question.