Biomarkers identified in inborn errors for lysine, arginine, and ornithine

Inborn errors of lysine, arginine, and ornithine metabolism are very rare: only a few patients affected with these disorders have been carefully investigated, and very few reports on long-term outcome are available. These rare data make it difficult to define safety limits of these amino acids and useful biomarkers from these disorders. Only 4 disorders give rise to an important increase of the plasma amino acid concentration proximal to the metabolic block: lysine in 2-aminoadipic semialdehyde synthase deficiency, arginine in arginase deficiency, ornithine in ornithine amino transferase deficiency, and hyperammonemia hyperornithinemia homocitrullinuria syndrome. There is an obvious discrepancy between the important physiological role of these amino acids in cell metabolism and nutrition and the clinical consequences that are actually observed in these disorders.