A two-step process, in which circulating levels of amyloid P are reduced and then anti–serum amyloid P antibody is given to activate macrophage clearance mechanisms of tissue deposits, appears to ...reduce amyloid deposits in liver and some other organs.
In systemic amyloidosis, the extracellular deposition of normally soluble plasma proteins as insoluble amyloid fibrils damages the structure and function of tissues and organs.
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Current treatment consists of support or replacement of failing organs and measures to reduce the abundance of the amyloid fibril precursor protein.
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A sufficient reduction of precursor supply arrests the accumulation of amyloid and can reduce morbidity and mortality. However, amyloid regression is very slow and often does not occur at all, in contrast to the usually swift clearance of other extracellular debris and efficient tissue remodeling — for example, after trauma. At least 65% . . .
BACKGROUND:Transthyretin amyloidosis cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is an increasingly recognized cause of heart failure in older individuals. We sought to characterize the natural history of ATTR-CM and ...compare outcomes and quality of life among patients with acquired and hereditary forms of the disease.
METHODS:We studied 711 patients with wild-type ATTR-CM, 205 with hereditary ATTR-CM associated with the V1221 variant (V122I-hATTR-CM), and 118 with non-V122I-hATTR-CM at the UK National Amyloidosis Center between 2000 and 2017. Patients underwent prospective protocolized evaluations comprising assessment of cardiac parameters, functional status by 6-minute walk test, quality of life according to the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, and survival. Hospital service usage pre- and postdiagnosis was established using English central health records in a subset of patients.
RESULTS:There was substantial diagnostic delay, with patients using hospital services a median (interquartile range) of 17 (9–27) times during the 3 years before diagnosis, by which time quality of life was poor; diagnosis of wild-type ATTR-CM was delayed >4 years after presentation with cardiac symptoms in 42% of cases. Patients with V122I-hATTR-CM were more impaired functionally (P<0.001) and had worse measures of cardiac disease (P<0.001) at the time of diagnosis, a greater decline in quality of life, and poorer survival (P<0.001) in comparison with the other subgroups.
CONCLUSIONS:ATTR-CM is an inexorably progressive and eventually fatal cardiomyopathy associated with poor quality of life. Diagnosis is often delayed for many years after symptoms develop. Improved awareness and wider use of recently validated diagnostic imaging methods are urgently required for patients to benefit from recent therapeutic developments.
Abstract
Aims
Transthyretin amyloidosis cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is an increasingly recognized cause of heart failure. We sought to characterize the structural and functional echocardiographic ...phenotype across the spectrum of wild-type (wtATTR-CM) and hereditary (hATTR-CM) transthyretin cardiomyopathy and the echocardiographic features predicting prognosis.
Methods and results
We studied 1240 patients with ATTR-CM who underwent prospective protocolized evaluations comprising full echocardiographic assessment and survival between 2000 and 2019, comprising 766 with wtATTR-CM and 474 with hATTR-CM, of whom 314 had the V122I variant and 127 the T60A variant. At diagnosis, patients with V122I-hATTR-CM had the most severe degree of systolic and diastolic dysfunction across all echocardiographic parameters and patients with T60AhATTR-CM the least; patients with wtATTR-CM had intermediate features. Stroke volume index, right atrial area index, longitudinal strain, and E/e’ were all independently associated with mortality (P < 0.05 for all). Severe aortic stenosis (AS) was also independently associated with prognosis, conferring a significantly shorter survival (median survival 22 vs. 53 months, P = 0.001).
Conclusion
The three distinct genotypes present with varying degrees of severity. Echocardiography indicates a complex pathophysiology in which both systolic and diastolic function are independently associated with mortality. The presence of severe AS was independently associated with significantly reduced patient survival.
The aim of this study was to characterize left atrial (LA) pathology in explanted hearts with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM); LA mechanics using echocardiographic speckle-tracking in ...a large cohort of patients with ATTR-CM; and to study the association with mortality.
The clinical significance of LA involvement in ATTR-CM is of great clinical interest.
Congo red staining and immunohistochemistry was performed to assess the presence, type, and extent of amyloid and associated changes in 5 explanted ATTR-CM atria. Echo speckle tracking was used to assess LA reservoir, conduit, contractile function, and stiffness in 906 patients with ATTR-CM (551 wild-type (wt)-ATTR-CM; 93 T60A-ATTR-CM; 241 V122I-ATTR-CM; 21 other).
There was extensive ATTR amyloid infiltration in the 5 atria, with loss of normal architecture, vessels remodeling, capillary disruption, and subendocardial fibrosis. Echo speckle tracking in 906 patients with ATTR-CM demonstrated increased atrial stiffness (median 25th-75th quartile 1.83 1.15-2.92) that remained independently associated with prognosis after adjusting for known predictors (lnLA stiff: HR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.03-1.49; P = 0.029). There was substantial impairment of the 3 phasic functional atrial components (reservoir 8.86% 5.94%-12.97%; conduit 6.5% 4.53%-9.28%; contraction function 4.0% 2.29%-6.56%). Atrial contraction was absent in 22.1% of patients whose electrocardiograms showed sinus rhythm (SR) “atrial electromechanical dissociation” (AEMD). AEMD was associated with poorer prognosis compared with patients with SR and effective mechanical contraction (P = 0.0018). AEMD conferred a similar prognosis to patients in atrial fibrillation.
The phenotype of ATTR-CM includes significant infiltration of the atrial walls, with progressive loss of atrial function and increased stiffness, which is a strong independent predictor of mortality. AEMD emerged as a distinctive phenotype identifying patients in SR with poor prognosis.
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Objective
Mevalonate kinase deficiency (MKD) is a rare metabolic disease characterized by recurrent inflammatory episodes. This study was undertaken to describe the genotype, phenotype, and response ...to treatment in an international cohort of MKD patients.
Methods
All MKD cases were extracted from the Eurofever registry (Executive Agency for Health and Consumers project no. 2007332), an international, multicenter registry that retrospectively collects data on children and adults with autoinflammatory diseases.
Results
The study included 114 MKD patients. The median age at onset was 0.5 years. Patients had on average 12 episodes per year. Most patients had gastrointestinal symptoms (n = 112), mucocutaneous involvement (n = 99), lymphadenopathy (n = 102), or musculoskeletal symptoms (n = 89). Neurologic symptoms included headache (n = 43), cerebellar syndrome (n = 2), and mental retardation (n = 4). AA amyloidosis was noted in 5 patients, almost twice as many as expected from findings in previous cohorts. Macrophage activation syndrome occurred in 1 patient. Patients were generally well between attacks, but 10–20% of the patients had constitutional symptoms, such as fatigue, between fever episodes. Patients with p.V377I/p.I268T compound heterozygosity had AA amyloidosis significantly more often. Patients without a p.V377I mutation more often had severe musculoskeletal involvement. Treatment with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs relieved symptoms. Steroids given during attacks, anakinra, and etanercept appeared to improve symptoms and could induce complete remission in patients with MKD.
Conclusion
We describe the clinical and genetic characteristics of 114 MKD patients, which is the largest cohort studied so far. The clinical manifestations confirm earlier reports. However, the prevalence of AA amyloidosis is far higher than expected.
Technetium-99m-labelled 3,3-diphosphono-1,2-propanodicarboxylic acid ((99m)Tc-DPD) is a sensitive method for imaging cardiac transthyretin (ATTR) amyloid. We report utility and limitations of ...(99m)Tc-DPD scintigraphy in 321 patients with suspected cardiac amyloidosis.
The cohort included wild-type ATTR (ATTRwt) amyloidosis in 94 (29%), ATTR-Val122Ile amyloidosis in 38 (12%), hereditary ATTR (ATTRmt) amyloidosis in 46 (14%), primary light-chain (AL) amyloidosis in 44 (14%), secondary (AA) amyloidosis in three (1%), other hereditary amyloidosis types in nine (3%), undetermined types in two (0.5%), and 85 (26.5%) patients in whom systemic amyloidosis was ultimately excluded. All 158 patients with ATTR amyloidosis with clinical cardiac involvement had cardiac (99m)Tc-DPD uptake, with median Grade 2 intensity. Thirteen further ATTR amyloidosis patients without clinical evidence of cardiac involvement also demonstrated (99m)Tc-DPD cardiac uptake. Eighteen of 35 (51%) AL patients with cardiac involvement had (99m)Tc-DPD cardiac uptake (median Grade 1 intensity). SPECT imaging indicates that the apparent reciprocal reduction in bone uptake is due to masking of bone uptake by extensive soft-tissue uptake in ATTR amyloidosis, especially ATTRwt, and ATTR-Val122Ile types.
(99m)Tc-DPD scintigraphy is a highly sensitive technique for imaging cardiac ATTR amyloidosis and is an important investigation in the diagnostic pathway of patients with cardiac amyloidosis. It is not specific for ATTR in isolation but must be interpreted in a broad clinical context to avoid dangerous diagnostic errors. Diffuse skeletal muscle uptake identifies muscle as a hitherto unrecognized site that merits investigation as a target organ in ATTR amyloidosis.
Cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS) is caused by
mutations. Recently, somatic
mosaicism has been reported in some CAPS patients who were previously classified as "mutation-negative." We ...describe here the clinical and laboratory findings in eight British adult patients who presented with symptoms typical of CAPS other than an onset in mid-late adulthood. All patients underwent comprehensive clinical and laboratory investigations, including analysis of the
gene using Sanger and amplicon-based deep sequencing (ADS) along with measurements of extracellular apoptosis-associated speck-like protein with CARD domain (ASC) aggregates. The clinical phenotype in all subjects was consistent with mid-spectrum CAPS, except a median age at disease onset of 50 years. Sanger sequencing of
was non-diagnostic but ADS detected a somatic
mutation in each case. In one patient, DNA isolated from blood demonstrated an increase in the mutant allele from 5 to 45% over 12 years. ASC aggregates in patients' serum measured during active disease were significantly higher than healthy controls. This series represents 8% of CAPS patients diagnosed in a single center, suggesting that acquired
mutations may not be an uncommon cause of the syndrome and should be sought in all patients with late-onset symptoms otherwise compatible with CAPS. Steadily worsening CAPS symptoms in one patient were associated with clonal expansion of the mutant allele predominantly affecting myeloid cells. Two patients developed AA amyloidosis, which previously has only been reported in CAPS in association with life-long germline
mutations.
Objective
AA amyloidosis is a life‐threatening complication of the hereditary periodic fever syndromes (HPFS), which are otherwise often compatible with normal life expectancy. This study was ...undertaken to determine the characteristics, presentation, natural history, and response to treatment in 46 patients who had been referred for evaluation at the UK National Amyloidosis Centre.
Methods
Disease activity was monitored by serial measurement of serum amyloid A. Renal function was assessed by measurement of serum creatinine and albumin levels, the estimated glomerular filtration rate, and proteinuria from 24‐hour urine collections. The amyloid load was measured by serum amyloid P scintigraphy.
Results
Twenty‐four patients had familial Mediterranean fever, 12 patients had tumor necrosis factor receptor–associated periodic syndrome, 6 patients had cryopyrin‐associated periodic syndromes, and 4 patients had mevalonate kinase deficiency. The median age at onset of HPFS was 5 years; median age at presentation with AA amyloidosis was 38 years. Diagnosis of an HPFS had not been considered prior to presentation with AA amyloidosis in 23 patients (50%). Eleven patients (24%) had end‐stage renal failure (ESRF) at presentation; of these, 3 had received transplants prior to referral. A further 13 patients developed ESRF over the followup period, with 10 undergoing renal transplantation. The median time to progression to ESRF from onset of AA amyloidosis was 3.3 years (interquartile range IQR 2–8), with a median time to transplant of 4 years (IQR 3–6). Eleven patients (24%) died. The median survival in the entire cohort was 19 years from diagnosis of AA amyloidosis. Of the 37 patients who were treated successfully, or in whom at least partial suppression of the underlying HPFS was achieved, 17 (46%) showed amyloid regression, 14 (38%) showed a stable amyloid load, and 2 (5%) showed increased amyloid deposition over the followup period.
Conclusion
AA amyloidosis remains a challenging and serious late complication of HPFS; however, outcomes are excellent when HPFS is diagnosed early enough to allow effective treatment, thus preventing or retarding further amyloid deposition and organ damage.
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