McArdle Disease: Clinical, Biochemical, Histological and Molecular Genetic Analysis of 60 Patients

A clinical, biochemical, histological and molecular genetic analysis of 60 McArdle patients (33 males and 27 females; mean age at diagnosis: 37 years) was performed. The objective of this study was to identify a possible genotype-phenotype correlation in McArdle disease. All patients complained of exercise-induced myalgia and fatigue; permanent weakness was present in 47% of the patients. Five percent of patients conveyed of masticatory muscle weakness. Age of onset was <15 years in 92% patients. Serum creatine kinase was elevated 5 to13-fold. Forearm ischemic test showed decreased lactate production but excessively increased ammonia upon exercise (n = 16). Muscle biopsies revealed highly reduced or missing myophosphorylase activity (n = 20) (mean: 0.17 ± 0.35 U/g tissue; normal: 12-61) and histologically, sub-sarcolemmal glycogen accumulation (n = 9). Molecular genetic analysis revealed the common p.Arg50Ter mutation in 68% of the patients. Other rather frequent mutations were p.Arg270Ter (allele frequency: 5%) followed by c.2262delA and p.Met1Val (allele frequencies: 3%). Twenty-four other rare mutations were also identified. No genotype-phenotype correlation was observed. The analysis highlights that testing of the p.Arg50Ter mutation could be performed first in molecular genetic testing of patients with exercise intolerance possibly due to McArdle disease. However, there is enormous mutation heterogeneity in McArdle disease thus sequencing of the myophosphorylase gene is needed in patients highly suspicious of McArdle disease.