Enzyme replacement in Fabry endothelial cells and fibroblasts: uptake experiments and electron microscopical studies

Endothelial cells are of particular interest for therapeutic strategies in Fabry's disease, because the accumulation of glycosphingolipids in the vascular endothelium as a result of alpha-galactosidase A (alpha-galA) deficiency is responsible for the major clinical manifestations of the disease. Electron microscopical observations of cultured endothelial cells obtained from the umbilical vein of a hemizygous Fabry fetus showed that the glycosphingolipids are deposited as lamellar material in the lysosomes, as has been found previously for cultured fibroblasts and many different tissues. Mannose 6-phosphate (man 6-P)-receptor mediated and Concanavalin A (ConA)-mediated uptake of purified alpha-galA was attempted in the endothelial cells as well as in cultured fibroblasts from the same fetus. Our results on high-uptake alpha-galA indicate that the endothelial cells do not internalize alpha-galA via the man 6-P receptor. Immunofluorescence studies after addition of the receptor antibody to the cells support the theory that they have no or very few man 6-P receptors on the surface. Morphological studies did not show lysosomal changes which could suggest that the enzyme is taken up into the endothelial cells; however, we found reproducible modifications of the lysosomes in Fabry fibroblasts after incubation with high-uptake alpha-galA. Cell-associated alpha-galA activity was found in both cell types, when the enzyme was added to cells preincubated with ConA; but the lectin treatment by itself induced considerable ultrastructural changes in the cytoplasm, which obscured a possible effect by the enzyme.