Abstract
Gaucher disease is an inherited lysosomal storage disorder, characterized by massive accumulation of glucosylceramide-laden macrophages in the spleen, liver and bone marrow as a consequence of deficient activity of glucocerebrosidase. Gaucher disease has been the playground to develop new therapeutic interventions such as enzyme-replacement therapy and substrate-reduction therapy. The availability of these costly therapies has stimulated research regarding suitable biomarkers to monitor onset and progression of disease, as well as the efficacy of therapeutic intervention. Given the important role of storage cells in the pathology, various attempts have been made to identify proteins in plasma or serum reflecting the body burden of these pathological cells. In this review, the existing data regarding biomarkers for Gaucher disease, as well as the current application of biomarkers in clinical management of Gaucher patients are discussed. Moreover, the use of several modern proteomic technologies for the identification of Gaucher biomarkers is reviewed.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank their colleagues in the clinical departments and research laboratories in the Academic Medical Center focusing on lysosomal storage disorders. The continuous support by The Netherlands Gaucher Patient society is gratefully acknowledged.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.