• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.116-125
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• 2005

Orthotopic liver transplantation is the treatment of choice for inherited metabolic diseases. However, the supply of donor organs is limiting and therefore many patients cannot benefit from this therapy. In contrast, hepatocytes can be isolated from a single donor liver. They can be transplanted into several recipients, and this procedure may help overcome the shortage of donor livers. A great deal of work with animal models indicates that hepatocytes transplanted into the liver or spleen can survive, function, and participate in the normal regenerative process. Recent clinical studies suggest that hepatocyte transplantation may be useful for bridging patients to whole organ transplantation and for providing metabolic support during liver failure and for replacing whole organ transplantation in certain inherited metabolic diseases. Nowadays, hepatocytes from various stem cells have been regarded as an another cell source for treatment of inherited metabolic diseases. Although cell therapy using stem cells for inherited metabolic disease patient has been accepted only as an experimental trial yet, hepatocytes from stem cells can solve a lot of obstacles in the treatment of inherited metabolic diseases.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.108-115
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• 2005

Inherited metabolic diseases (IMD) comprise a large class of genetic diseases involving disorders of metabolism. The majorities are due to defects of single genes that code for enzymes that facilitate conversion of various substances into others. Because of the multiplicity of conditions, many different diagnostic tests are used for screening of IMD. Molecular genetic diagnosis is the detection of pathogenic mutations in DNA and/or RNA samples and is becoming a much more common practice in medicine today. The purpose of molecular genetic testing in IMD includes diagnostic testing, pre-symptomatic testing, carrier screening, prenatal diagnosis, preimplantation testing, and population screening. However, because of the complexity, difficulty in interpreting the result, and the ethical considerations, an understanding of technical, conceptual, and practical aspects of molecular genetic diagnosis is mandatory.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2006

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.11
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• pp.1152-1157
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• 2006

Inherited metabolic disease is rare disorders that show symptoms mainly in pediatric age and early treatment is important for preventing complications of the disease. Recent development in molecular and biochemical techniques help clinicians with proper diagnosis of patients, however, many of the disease still remain lack of effective therapeutic strategies. Better understanding on biochemical and molecular basis of pathogenesis of the disease combined with advanced medical care would provide new sight on the disease that can also improve the quality of life and long-term prognosis of patients. Traditionally, there are several modalities in the treatment of metabolic diseases depend on the biochemical basis of the disease such as diet restriction, removing or blocking the production of toxic metabolites, and stimulating residual enzyme activity. The inherited metabolic disease is not familiar for many clinicians because the diagnosis is troublesome, treatment is complicated and prognosis may not as good as expected in other diseases. Recently, new therapeutic regimens have been introduced that can significantly improve the medical care of patients with metabolic disease. Enzyme replacement therapy has showed promising efficacy for lysosomal storage disease, bone marrow transplantation is effective in some disease and gene therapy has been trying for different diseases. The new trials for treatment of the disease will give us promising insight on the disease and most clinicians should have more interest in medical progress of the metabolic disease.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2013

Inherited metabolic disorders are individually rare but as a whole, they are nor rare. Since Archibald Garrod introduced a concept of "inborn error of metabolism" or "chemical individuality", more than 600 diseases are currently known, affecting approximately one in 500 newborns cumulatively. They frequently manifest with acute, life-threatening crisis that requires immediate specific intervention or they present with insidious diverse symptoms and signs involving multiple visceral organs or tissues as well as central nervous system, hampering a correct diagnosis. In addition, many pediatricians are not familiar with all diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for diverse inherited metabolic disorders. However, the prognosis of affected children are heavily dependent on rapid and effective treatment. In this lecture, practical guidelines for the specific diagnosis based on diverse clinical features of inherited metabolic disorders will be described. Many sophisticated laboratory tests are available for the confirmatory diagnosis of each disease, which is challenging to general pediatricians with respect to knowledge about biochemical metabolite assay test, enzymatic test and DNA diagnostic tests. Sample collections, indications, methods and interpretation of results in varying laboratory tests will be listed as well.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.75-80
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• 2013

Specific genetic conditions may lead to sudden unexpected deaths in infancy, such as inborn errors of fatty acid oxidation and genetic disorders of cardiac ion channels. The disease may present dramatically with severe hypoketotic hypoglycemia, Reye syndrome or sudden death, typically with a peak of frequency around 3-6 month, whilst neonatal sudden death is quite rare. When undetected, approximately 20-25% of infants will die or suffer permanent neurologic impairment as a consequence of the first acute metabolic decompensation. Meanwhile, the advent of newborn screening for metabolic diseases has revealed populations of patients with disorders of fatty acid oxidation (FAO), the most frequent of which is medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency. Without this screening, affected individuals would likely succumb to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Here we describe an overview of sudden infant death syndrome and inherited metabolic disorder.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.11
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• pp.1140-1151
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• 2006

Inherited metabolic disorders are individually rare but as a whole, they are nor rare. Since Archibald Garrod introduced a concept of "inborn error of metabolism" or "chemical individuality", more than 500 diseases are currently known, affecting approximately one in 500 newborns cumulatively. They frequently manifest with acute, life-threatening crisis that require immediate specific intervention or they present with insidious diverse symptoms and signs involving multiple visceral organs or tissues as well as central nervous system, hampering a correct diagnosis. In addition, many pediatricians are not familiar with all diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for diverse inherited metabolic disorders. However, the prognosis of affected children are heavily dependent on rapid and effective treatment. In this lecture, practical guidelines for the specific diagnosis based on diverse clinical features of inherited metabolic disorders will be described. Many sophisticated laboratory tests are available for confirmatory diagnosis of each disease, which challenge to general pediatricians with respect to knowledge about biochemical metabolite assay test, enzymatic test and DNA diagnostic tests. Sample collections, indications, methods and interpretation of results in varying laboratory tests will be listed as well.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2006

Purpose : The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs adopted newborn screening for the low-income families in 1991 and expanded in 1997 to cover all newborns. At the beginning of the program 6 diseases were selected for screening but the number of screening items had been reduced to two (congenital hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria) from the year 1995. Now, the government program has a fifteen year history. The purpose of this study was to analyze results of neonatal screening tests and prevalence at birth of phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism in Korea. Methods : The results of neonatal screening tests were collected from public health centers during 15 years from 1991 to 2005. These data were analyzed for number of tested newborns and prevalence at birth of the inborn errors of metabolism. Results : Neonatal screening test for inborn error of metabolism was performed for 3,707,773 newborns for 15 years. Among newborns who were screened 718 congenital hypothyroidisms and 86 phenylketonurias were detected, and these presented an prevalence at bith of congenital hypothyroidism 1/5,164 and that of phenylketonuria 1/43,114. The total prevalence of two diseases was 1/4,612. Conclusion : National screening program should be expanded to include all items of screening tests for whole newborns and established correct prevalence of other inherited metabolic diseases in Korea.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.53-57
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• 2022

Congenital metabolic disorders are rare inherited disorders resulting from a defect in biochemical and metabolic pathways affecting proteins, fats, carbohydrates metabolism or impaired organelle function. Depending on the abnormality of biochemical metabolism, various precursors and their abnormal metabolites can accumulate in the body and the final products which are critical in normal physiology can be deficient, resulting in disease. Congenital metabolic disorders present complicated medical conditions involving several human organ systems, including nervous system, eyes, liver, and kidneys. Various proteins and lipids are involved in the development and homeostasis of the skin, so many congenital metabolic disorders present abnormal changes in skin and hair. In this review, congenital metabolic diseases related to amino acid and lipid metabolism accompanying skin abnormalities will be discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.76-87
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• 2005

Various disorders cause hyperammonemia during childhood. Amongthem are those caused by inherited defects in urea synthesis and related metabolic pathways. These disorders can be grouped into two types: disorders of the enzymes that comprise the urea cycle, and disorders of the transporters or metabolites of theamino acids related to the urea cycle. Principal clinical features of these disorders are caused by elevated levels of blood ammonium. Additional disease-specific symptoms are related to the particular metabolic defect. These specific clinical manifestations are often due to an excess or lack of specific amino acids. Treatment of urea cycle disorders and related metabolic diseases consists of nutritional restriction of proteins, administration of specific amino acids, and use of alternative pathways for discarding excess nitrogen. Although combinations of these treatments are extensively employed, the prognosis of severe cases remains unsatisfactory. Liver transplantation is one alternative for which a better prognosis is reported.