Fabry Disease

Fabry disease is caused by the lack of or faulty enzyme needed to metabolize lipids, fat-like substances that include oils, waxes, and fatty acids.  The disease is also called alpha-galactosidase-A deficiency.  A mutation in the gene that controls this enzyme causes insufficient breakdown of lipids, which build up to harmful levels in the eyes, kidneys, and the autonomic nervous system (which controls involuntary functions such as breathing and digestion), and cardiovascular system.  Symptoms usually begin during childhood or adolescence and include burning sensations in the hands that gets worse with exercise and hot weather and small, non-cancerous, raised reddish-purple blemishes on the skin.  Some boys will also have eye manifestations, especially cloudiness of the cornea.  Lipid storage may lead to impaired arterial circulation and increased risk of heart attack or stroke.  The heart may also become enlarged and the kidneys may become progressively impaired, leading to renal failure.  Other signs include decreased sweating, fever, and gastrointestinal difficulties.  Fabry disease is one of several lipid storage disorders and the only X-linked lipid storage disease (where the mother carries the affected gene on the X chromosome that determines the child's gender and passes it to her son).  Boys have a 50 percent chance of inheriting the disorder and her daughters have a 50 percent chance of being a carrier.  A milder form is common in females, and occasionally some affected females may have severe symptoms similar to males with the disorder.