New directions in the treatment of Gaucher disease

AH Futerman, JL Sussman, M Horowitz, I Silman… - Trends in …, 2004 - cell.com
AH Futerman, JL Sussman, M Horowitz, I Silman, A Zimran
Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, 2004cell.com
Gaucher disease, an inherited metabolic disorder caused by mutations in the gene
encoding acid-β-glucosidase (GlcCerase), is a multi-system disease whose manifestations
include anemia, thrombocytopenia, hepatosplenomegaly, bone pathology and, in some
cases, neurological signs. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) using recombinant
GlcCerase (Cerezyme®) alleviates many disease symptoms and is used by∼ 3000 patients
worldwide, and substrate-reduction therapy (SRT) using the glycolipid synthesis inhibitor N …
Abstract
Gaucher disease, an inherited metabolic disorder caused by mutations in the gene encoding acid-β-glucosidase (GlcCerase), is a multi-system disease whose manifestations include anemia, thrombocytopenia, hepatosplenomegaly, bone pathology and, in some cases, neurological signs. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) using recombinant GlcCerase (Cerezyme®) alleviates many disease symptoms and is used by ∼3000 patients worldwide, and substrate-reduction therapy (SRT) using the glycolipid synthesis inhibitor N-butyldeoxynojirimycin [NB-DNJ (Zavesca®)] has been approved recently for patients for whom ERT is unsuitable. It is our opinion that a multiplicity of treatment strategies is required for the management of Gaucher disease. In this article, we discuss the pros and cons of currently available treatments, and suggest complementary therapies arising from the determination of the X-ray structure of Cerezyme® and from delineation of secondary biochemical pathways affected in Gaucher disease.
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