Gaucher disease, the inherited deficiency of lysosomal glucocerebrosidase, is characterized by the presence of glucosylcer-amide macrophages, the accumulation of glucosylceramide in lysosomes and the secretion of inflammatory cytokines. However, the connection between this lysosomal storage and inflammation is not clear. Studying macrophages derived from peripheral monocytes from patients with ...

BACKGOUND Pain is one of the most disabling symptoms of Gaucher disease. It is referred by the majority of Gaucher patients and often persists despite long-term enzyme replacement treatment. It has been mainly considered as nociceptive pain secondary to skeletal involvement but it is described even in the absence of bone disease without a clear explanation. In the last years an increasing numbe...

Gaucher's disease is an inherited lysosomal storage disorder with a deficiency of the enzyme glucocerbrosidase that manifests with clinical features of anemia, hepato-splenomegaly, skeletal destruction and organ dysfunction due to the accumulation of glucocerbrosides. There are several types of Gaucher's disease with varying prognosis and clinical progression of disease. We describe two cases f...

A cloned fragment of human glucocerebrosidase cDNA has been used as a probe to study restriction polymorphisms in the region of the gene for Gaucher disease. Variability in the size of fragments produced by digestion with the restriction endonucleases Pvu II and Kpn I was discovered. The Pvu II polymorphism was found to be a very prevalent one with a gene frequency of 0.65 for the Pv1.1- allele...

Gaucher mice, created by targeted disruption of the glucocerebrosidase gene, are totally deficient in glucocerebrosidase and have a rapidly deteriorating clinical course analogous to the most severely affected type 2 human patients. An ultrastructural study of tissues from these mice revealed glucocerebroside accumulation in bone marrow, liver, spleen, and brain. This glycolipid had a character...

Gaucher disease (GD) is the most common lysosomal storage disorder. Deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase results in the intracellular accumulation of undegraded substrates in the spleen, liver and bone marrow. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) is a standard approach for type 1 GD. Here, we present an adult patient with hematological disorders due to type 1 GD, who markedly impro...

In type 1 Gaucher disease, decreased activity of glucocerebrosidase results in accumulation of glucosylceramide in macrophages. Infiltration of liver, spleen and bone marrow by lipid-laden macrophages leads to hepatosplenomegaly, bone lesions and cytopenia. These abnormal macrophages may produce and release macrophage derived factors and cytokines, which could contribute to the pathophysiology ...

The classical ultrastructural features of Gaucher disease include large numbers of intracytoplasmic, membrane-bound lysosomal inclusions containing characteristic tubular structures on an electron-lucent background, representing the periodic acid schiff (PAS)-positive Gaucher cells identifiable on light microscopy. Following enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), many of the manifestations of the co...