Mutations identified in a cohort of Mexican patients with lysosomal acid lipase deficiency

Lysosomal acid lipase deficiency (LAL-D) is an autosomal recessive disease caused by mutations in the LIPA gene, located on the long arm of chromosome 10 (10q23.31). Up until now, more than 59 mutations have been described and which are the cause of a very wide clinical spectrum. The goal of this study was to identify the mutations present in Mexican pediatric patients with a diagnosis of LAL-D.

A cross-sectional study was carried out which included all the pediatric patients with LAL-D treated in a tertiary hospital in Mexico from January 2000 to June 2017.

Sixteen patients with LAL-D were identified with a disease phenotype marked by the accumulation of cholesteryl esters. Eight distinct variants in the LIPA gene sequence were found, four pathogenic variants and four probably pathogenic. In six individuals, the variants were found in the homozygous state and ten were compound heterozygous. The eight variants were inverted, with five found on exon 4 and the others on exons 2, 8 and 10. The variant c.386A>G;p.His129Arg was the most common, being found in six of the 16 individuals (37.5%), making it much more frequent than what had previously been reported in the literature in proportion to the rest of the variants. The mutation known as E8SJM, which has been the mostly frequently found at the international level, was not the most common among this group of Mexican patients. In conclusion, Mexican patients present a different frequency of mutations associated with LAL-D in comparison to European populations.