title: Fucosidosis in a native-born Briton.
abstract: This investigation reports the biochemical findings in a native-born Briton suffering from the adult form of fucosidosis. Alpha-L-fucosidase, alpha-L-iduronidase, and beta-D-galactosidase were studied in cultured fibroblast and leucocytes from the patient with fucosidosis, her maternal grandfather, and several normal controls. A complete lack of alpha-L-fucosidase activity was found in the patient's fibroblasts and leucocytes while the grandfather exhibited a heterozygous level of alpha-L-fucosidase activity in his leucocytes. Excessive excretion of what is very likely to be a fucose-containing sphingolipid was demonstrated in the patient's urine by thin-layer chromatography. Compared with five isoenzyme forms of alpha-L-fucosidase activity in normal leucocytes, cellulose acetate electrophoresis of the patient's leucocytes produced evidence of a single band of slight activity associated with one of the isoenzymes. This residual activity probably accounts for the survival of such patients into adolescence and beyond.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004186:Disaccharidases / Q000172:deficiency*; D005260:Female; D005696:Galactosidases / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007068:Iduronidase / Q000097:blood; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000201:enzymology; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000652:urine; D005644:alpha-L-Fucosidase / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency*
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; D004186:Disaccharidases; D005696:Galactosidases; D005644:alpha-L-Fucosidase; D007068:Iduronidase