OBJECTIVE: To characterize the lipid profiles in patients with types A and B Niemann Pick disease (NPD) and determine if lipid abnormalities are associated with evidence of early cardiovascular disease or correlate with genotype. STUDY DESIGN: The study was a cross-sectional analysis of 10 patients with NPD type A and 30 patients with NPD type B that was carried out in the General Clinical Research Center. For each patient, fasting lipid profile and glucose, T4, height or length, weight, resting blood pressure, and acid sphingomyelinase deficiency genotype were measured. In type B patients, electrocardiograhic-gated helical computed tomography of the heart also was obtained. RESULTS: Lipid abnormalities included low (<35 mg/dL) high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in 100% of patients and hypertriglyceridemia and increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in 62% (25/40) and 67% (27/40) of patients, respectively. Coronary artery calcium scores were positive (>1.0) in 10 of 18 type B patients studied. There was no correlation of the Delta R608 genotype with a milder phenotype for the lipid abnormalities, as has been observed for a number of other NPD manifestations. CONCLUSIONS: Lipid abnormalities are part of the phenotype in types A and B NPD and may be associated with early atherosclerotic heart disease.

A prospective, cross-sectional survey study of the natural history of Niemann-Pick disease type B. Pediatrics. 2008;122(2):e341-9.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to characterize the clinical features of patients with Niemann-Pick disease type B and to identify efficacy end points for future clinical trials of enzyme-replacement therapy. METHODS: Fifty-nine patients who had Niemann-Pick disease type B, were at least 6 years of age, and manifested at least 2 disease symptoms participated in this multicenter, multinational, cross-sectional survey study. Medical histories; physical examinations; assessments of cardiorespiratory function, clinical laboratory data, and liver and spleen volumes; radiographic evaluation of the lungs and bone age; and quality-of-life assessments were obtained during a 2- to 3-day period. RESULTS: Fifty-three percent of the patients were male, 92% were white, and the median age was 17.6 years. The R608del mutation accounted for 25% of all disease alleles. Most patients initially presented with splenomegaly (78%) or hepatomegaly (73%). Frequent symptoms included bleeding (49%), pulmonary infections and shortness of breath (42% each), and joint/limb pain (39%). Growth was markedly delayed during adolescence. Patients commonly had low levels of platelets and high-density lipoprotein, elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein, very-low-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, leukocyte sphingomyelin, and serum chitotriosidase, and abnormal liver function test results. Nearly all patients had documented splenomegaly and hepatomegaly and interstitial lung disease. Patients commonly showed restrictive lung disease physiology with impaired pulmonary gas exchange and decreased maximal exercise tolerance. Quality of life was only mildly decreased by standardized questionnaires. The degree of splenomegaly correlated with most aspects of disease, including hepatomegaly, growth, lipid profile, hematologic parameters, and pulmonary function. CONCLUSIONS: This study documents the multisystem involvement and clinical variability of Niemann-Pick B disease. Several efficacy end points were identified for future clinical treatment studies. Because of its correlation with disease severity, spleen volume may be a useful surrogate end point in treatment trials, whereas biomarkers such as chitotriosidase also may play a role in monitoring patient treatment responses.

Niemann-Pick type C disease (NPC) is a sphingolipid-storage disorder that results from inherited deficiencies of intracellular lipid-trafficking proteins, and is characterised by an accumulation of cholesterol and glycosphingolipids in late endosomes and lysosomes. Patients with this disorder develop progressive neurological impairment that often begins in childhood, is ultimately fatal and is currently untreatable. How impaired lipid trafficking leads to neurodegeneration is largely unknown. Here we review NPC clinical features and biochemical defects, and discuss model systems used to study this disorder. Recent studies have established that NPC is associated with an induction of autophagy, a regulated and evolutionarily conserved process by which cytoplasmic proteins are sequestered within autophagosomes and targeted for degradation. This pathway enables recycling of limited or damaged macromolecules to promote cell survival. However, in other instances, robust activation of autophagy leads to cell stress and programmed cell death. We summarise evidence showing that autophagy induction and flux are increased in NPC by signalling through a complex of the class III phosphoinositide 3-kinase and beclin-1. We propose that an imbalance between induction and flux through the autophagic pathway contributes to cell stress and neuronal loss in NPC and related sphingolipid-storage disorders, and discuss potential therapeutic strategies for modulating activity of this pathway.

AIMS: Although pulmonary involvement is a known cause of morbidity in Niemann-Pick disease, histological features in the lung are not well characterized. The purpose of this study is to document the histological features seen in pulmonary involvement by types B and C Niemann-Pick disease and to correlate them with clinical and imaging data. METHODS AND RESULTS: Surgical lung biopsies from six patients (four with type B and two with type C disease) were reviewed and all showed diffuse endogenous lipid pneumonia, with lesser involvement of the interstitium by fibrosis and foamy macrophage accumulation. In type B disease only, there was also fine cytoplasmic vacuolation within the cytoplasm of ciliated epithelial cells. Neither disease showed foamy changes within pneumocytes. One patient had a bronchial cast removed on whole lung lavage. Electron microscopy showed abnormal lamellar inclusions within lysosomes of affected cells in type B disease. In patients with type C disease, biopsies were undertaken as part of investigations into acute respiratory failure in the context of multiorgan systemic presentation. Three patients with type B disease had clinical disease limited to the lung, all adults (mean age of 40 years) with unexplained diffuse parenchymal lung disease and mainly ground-glass shadowing on high-resolution computed tomography. CONCLUSIONS: Niemann-Pick disease should be considered for any patient with unexplained diffuse endogenous lipid pneumonia, even when disease is limited to the lungs and presentation is during adulthood.

Sea-blue histiocytosis is a rare disorder seen in patients with lipid metabolic or ceroid storage diseases. Sea-blue histiocytes are ceroid-laden macrophages detectable by May-Giemsa staining. We report a case of a 28-year-old woman diagnosed with Niemann-Pick disease at 2 or 3 years of age. To confirm this diagnosis, we examined her bone marrow, which revealed scattered foci containing aggregates of foamy macrophages. May-Giemsa staining identified blue-staining foamy macrophages, referred to as sea-blue histiocytes. In summary, we report the detection of sea-blue histiocytosis in an adult with Niemann-Pick disease.

Neural stem cells are multi-potent and able to self renew to maintain its character throughout the life. Loss of self renewal ability of stem cells prevents recovery or replacement of cells damaged by disease with new cells. The Niemann-Pick type C1 (NPC1) disease is one of the neurodegenerative diseases, caused by a mutation of NPC1 gene which affects the function of NPC1 protein. We reported that NPC 1 gene deficiency could lead to lack of the self renewal ability of neural stem cells in Niemann pick type C disease. We also investigated many genes which are involved in stem cells proliferation and differentiation by gene profile in NPC mice. Diagnosis of NPC disease is difficult because it is accompanied by complicated symptoms and the fact that there is no effective treatment for NPC patients. Studies of these stem cells and their relationship to Niemann pick type C disease will provide new biomarkers for early diagnosis as well as a potential cure by use of targeted therapeutics for Niemann pick type C disease.

A case of neurovisceral storage disease with sea-blue histiocyte and severe horizontal supranuclear ophthalmoplegia.Rinsho Shinkeigaku. 1990 Jan;30(1):62-7.

Neville and coauthors (1973) reported several cases of neurovisceral storage disease with vertical supranuclear gaze paresis, ataxia and other central nervous disorders. This disease is classified into Niemann-Pick disease type C because of the presence of foamy cells or sea-blue histiocytes in bone marrow, and the accumulation of sphingomyelin, cholesterol and other glycosphingolipids. In this paper, we reported a rare case of neurovisceral storage disease with severe horizontal supranuclear ophthalmoplegia and sea-blue histiocyte in bone marrow. The patient was a 9-year-old boy. He was hospitalized for unstable gait. The neurological examination revealed severe horizontal supranuclear ophthalmoplegia, moderate ataxia of four extremities and trunk, and mild dystonia of neck and four limbs on walking and standing. The ocular movement in the vertical direction was less impaired and his mentality was almost normal. The bone marrow aspiration showed a few sea-blue histiocytes. The activities of fibroblast lysosomal enzymes including sphingomyelinase were normal. The rectal biopsy revealed many foamy cells in mucous membrane and submucosa. The cell had PAS-positive and acid phosphatase-positive substances, which showed rose-red metachromasia with Feyrter's thionin method. But these abnormal cells were never stained by Sudan black B. These histochemical reactions were compatible with those of Neville's neurovisceral storage disease (Lake, 1983). Therefore we supposed the pathogenesis of this case was the same as that of Neville's cases. In this case, the horizontal supranuclear ophthalmoplegia was a unique symptom.