#121300 ICD+
  • SNOMEDCT: 238056003,
  • ICD10CM: E80.29,
  • SNOMEDCT: 7425008
SNOMEDCT: 238056003, ICD10CM: E80.29, SNOMEDCT: 7425008
COPROPORPHYRIA, HEREDITARY; HCP

Alternative titles; symbols
COPROPORPHYRINOGEN OXIDASE DEFICIENCY
CPOX DEFICIENCY
CPO DEFICIENCY
CPX DEFICIENCY

Other entities represented in this entry:
HARDEROPORPHYRIA, INCLUDED

Phenotype Gene Relationships
Location Phenotype Phenotype
MIM number
Gene/Locus Gene/Locus
MIM number
3q11.2-q12.1 Harderoporphyria 121300 CPOX 612732
3q11.2-q12.1 Coproporphyria 121300 CPOX 612732


TEXT
A number sign (#) is used with this entry because hereditary coproporphyria (HCP) and harderoporphyria are caused by heterozygous mutation in the CPOX gene (612732).

Description
Hereditary coproporphyria, an autosomal dominant acute hepatic porphyria, is characterized by acute attacks of neurologic dysfunction often provoked by drugs, fasting, menstrual cycle, or infectious diseases. Skin photosensitivity may also be present. Excretion of large amounts of coproporphyrin III, mostly in feces and urine, is observed. Harderoporphyria is a rare homozygous erythropoietic variant form of HCP, characterized by neonatal hemolytic anemia, sometimes accompanied by skin lesions, and massive excretion of harderoporphyrin in feces. During childhood and adulthood, a mild residual anemia is chronically observed (review by Schmitt et al., 2005).

Clinical Features
The first case of coproporphyria, reported by Berger and Goldberg (1955), was the offspring of first-cousin parents, both of whom showed excessive excretion of coproporphyrin III. The authors suggested that the disorder is autosomal dominant and that their proband was homozygous.

Barnes and Whittaker (1965) described 4 of 5 sibs who were affected. The parents were not tested. Marked elevation of coproporphyria in the feces differentiated the condition from acute intermittent porphyria (AIP; 176000) in which stool porphyrins are usually normal and from variegate porphyria (VP; 176200) in which both coproporphyrin and protoporphyrin fractions are increased in the stool. The proband experienced typical acute porphyria. Constipation and abdominal colic were striking features in these patients.

Goldberg et al. (1967) added 20 new cases. A massive excretion of coproporphyrin III in the urine and predominantly in the feces was demonstrated. Attacks resembling those of AIP were precipitated by drugs, and during attacks porphobilinogen and delta-aminolevulinic acid were excreted in the urine in excess. Photosensitivity is occasionally present and the only manifestations may be psychiatric. About half of cases are asymptomatic. This is an hepatic form of porphyria.

In the family of Haeger-Aronsen et al. (1968), 13 persons in 5 sibships of 2 generations showed latent coproporphyria, in addition to the symptomatic proband.

Cripps and Peters (1970) found that tranquilizers, including meprobamate and chlorpromazine, precipitated attacks.

McIntyre et al. (1971) noted that increased hepatic delta-aminolevulinic acid synthetase has been demonstrated in 3 forms of hereditary porphyria: AIP, VP, and coproporphyria.

In cultured skin fibroblasts, Elder et al. (1976) found that the activity of coproporphyrinogen oxidase was about half normal. Similar findings were reported for leukocytes (Brodie et al., 1977). In the homozygous patient reported by Grandchamp et al. (1977), activity of coproporphyrinogen oxidase was only 2% of control values.

Andrews et al. (1984) found 27 cases of coproporphyria in a kindred in which 135 members were screened for fecal porphyrins. Of the 135, 6 females and 1 male had probably suffered clinical attacks; the M:F ratio of cases revealed by screening was 13:14. The proband had her first attack at age 84 years; diazepam and nitrazepam were incriminated in her attack, and other drugs in the other patients. The late manifestation is indicated by the fact that this report was from a department of geriatric medicine. The earliest attack in an affected person was at age 14 years.

Barohn et al. (1994) described acute peripheral neuropathy with hereditary coproporphyria. This is a common feature of AIP but is rare with this form of porphyria.

Gross et al. (2002) reported the molecular, enzymatic, and clinical study of a family with hereditary coproporphyria in which the proband was a 30-year-old woman suffering from acute crises with abdominal, neurologic, and psychiatric complaints. The proband's father, 1 brother, and a sister were found to be new carriers. The patient was treated with intravenous interval therapy with haem arginate for 10 months, with good clinical and metabolic response.

Harderoporphyria

In 3 sibs (2 boys, 1 girl) with intense jaundice and hemolytic anemia at birth, Nordmann et al. (1983) found a high level of coproporphyrin in the urine and feces. The pattern of fetal porphyrin excretion was atypical because the major porphyrin was harderoporphyrin (more than 60%; normal, less than 20%). Homozygosity was suggested by the fact that the level of lymphocyte coproporphyrinogen III oxidase was 10% of controls in the sibs and 50% of normal in both parents (who showed only mild abnormalities of porphyrin excretion). The mutant enzyme showed abnormal kinetics.

Doss et al. (1984) likewise reported a case of the harderoporphyria variant. The parents were related, and the enzyme level was 7% in the patient and 53% in the mother; thus, homozygosity was suggested. The proband had severe jaundice, hemolytic anemia, and hepatosplenomegaly at birth. At age 10 slight photosensitivity and mild, compensated hemolytic anemia prompted diagnostic search for porphyria.

Schmitt et al. (2005) reported a fifth patient with harderoporphyria. They demonstrated that harderoporphyric patients exhibit iron overload secondary to dyserythropoiesis.

Inheritance
Dominant inheritance of coproporphyria seems adequately established (Goldberg et al. (1967)). Rare cases of coproporphyria are homozygous (see, e.g., Grandchamp et al., 1977 and Martasek et al., 1994).

Schmitt et al. (2005) noted that all 5 reported cases of harderoporphyria have homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations, indicating recessive inheritance.

Diagnosis
In a study of a large family with genetically confirmed HCP, Allen et al. (2005) found that measurement of fecal coproporphyrin III:I ratio is a highly sensitive test for the detection of asymptomatic HCP. The proband was a 35-year-old man who presented with unexplained severe abdominal pain and was found to have an increased fecal coproporphyrin III:I ratio of 12.7. Total urine porphyrins were also elevated. There were 13 asymptomatic mutation carriers; all had an increased fecal coproporphyrin III:I ratio (mean 14.0, normal less than 1.0), and 11 (85%) had increased fecal total porphyrin. Eight (62%) of the 13 asymptomatic carriers had increased urinary total porphyrin (up to 3-fold) due to excess coproporphyrin III. All individuals studied were older than 10 years of age; the sensitivity of the test for those under 10 years of age was uncertain. Plasma fluorescence emission scanning for porphyrin was not a useful indicator.

Molecular Genetics
In the homozygous patient with coproporphyria reported by Grandchamp et al. (1977), Martasek et al. (1994) demonstrated an arg231-to-trp mutation in the CPO gene (612732.0001).

In the 3 sibs with the harderoporphyria variant reported by Nordmann et al. (1983), Lamoril et al. (1995) demonstrated a K404E missense mutation in exon 6 of the CPO gene (see 612732.0003).

Lamoril et al. (2001) studied 17 unrelated British patients with HCP. They identified 10 novel and 4 previously reported CPO mutations in 15 of the 17 patients. All but 1 mutation were restricted to a single family, with a predominance of missense mutations. Both patients in whom mutations were not identified had an unequivocal diagnosis of HCP. Complete deletions of the CPO gene were excluded by showing that both patients were heterozygous for at least 1 intragenic SNP. It is probable that the causative mutations either lie outside the regions that were sequenced or were partial deletions or insertions not detected by the PCR-based methods. The findings of this study demonstrated that single copies of CPO mutations that are known or predicted to cause 'homozygous' HCP or harderoporphyria can produce typical HCP in adults and demonstrated that the severity of the phenotype does not correlate with the degree of inactivation by mutation of the coproporphyrinogen oxidase enzyme.

In 5 of 9 Swedish families with HCP, Wiman et al. (2002) identified mutations in the CPO gene. In each of 2 of the families, a novel mutation was identified: ser208 to phe (S208F; 612732.0010) and arg328 to cys (R328C; 612732.0011). In the affected members of the other 3 families, 2 previously reported mutations, R331W (612732.0001) and R447C (612732.0009), were shown to coexist on 1 allele. This was the first report of patients carrying 2 HCP-related mutations on the same allele.

Genotype/Phenotype Correlations
Schmitt et al. (2005) noted that all 5 reported patients (from 3 families) with harderoporphyria had a K404E mutation (612732.0003) in the CPOX gene in homozygosity or compound heterozygosity with a null mutation. Biochemical and expression studies revealed that only a few missense mutations, restricted to 5 amino acids encoded by exon 6 (D400-K404), may accumulate significant amounts of harderoporphyrin. All types of mutations occurring elsewhere throughout the CPOX gene resulted in coproporphyrin accumulation and subsequently typical HCP. They stated that this was the first metabolic disorder in which clinical expression of overt disease depended on the location and type of mutation, resulting either in acute hepatic or in erythropoietic porphyria.

See Also:
Connon and Turkington (1968); Hunter et al. (1971); Kohno et al. (1993); Lamoril et al. (1998); Lomholt and With (1969); Roberts et al. (1977)

REFERENCES
1. Allen, K. R., Whatley, S. D., Degg, T. J., Barth, J. H. Hereditary coproporphyria: comparison of molecular and biochemical investigations in a large family. J. Inherit. Metab. Dis. 28: 779-785, 2005. [PubMed: 16151909, related citations] [Full Text: Springer, Pubget]

2. Andrews, J., Erdjument, H., Nicholson, D. C. Hereditary coproporphyria: incidence in a large English family. J. Med. Genet. 21: 341-349, 1984. [PubMed: 6502649, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

3. Barnes, H. D., Whittaker, N. Hereditary coproporphyria with acute intermittent manifestations. Brit. Med. J. 2: 1102-1104, 1965. [PubMed: 5838412, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

4. Barohn, R. J., Sanchez, J. A., Anderson, K. E. Acute peripheral neuropathy due to hereditary coproporphyria. Muscle Nerve 17: 793-799, 1994. [PubMed: 8008008, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

5. Berger, H., Goldberg, A. Hereditary coproporphyria. Brit. Med. J. 2: 85-88, 1955. [PubMed: 14378650, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

6. Brodie, M. J., Thompson, G. G., Moore, M. R., Beattie, A. D., Goldberg, A. Hereditary coproporphyria: demonstration of the abnormalities in haem biosynthesis in peripheral blood. Quart. J. Med. 46: 229-241, 1977. [PubMed: 866576, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

7. Connon, J. J., Turkington, V. Hereditary coproporphyria. Lancet 292: 263-264, 1968. Note: Originally Volume II.

8. Cripps, D. J., Peters, H. A. Stool porphyrins in acute intermittent and hereditary coproporphyria: adverse effects of tranquilizers. Arch. Neurol. 23: 80-84, 1970. [PubMed: 4393048, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

9. Doss, M., von Tiepermann, R., Kopp, W. Harderoporphyrin coproporphyria. (Letter) Lancet 323: 292 only, 1984. Note: Originally Volume I.

10. Elder, G. H., Evans, J. O., Thomas, N., Cox, R., Brodie, M. J., Moore, M. R., Goldberg, A., Nicholson, D. C. The primary enzyme defect in hereditary coproporphyria. Lancet 308: 1217-1219, 1976. Note: Originally Volume II.

11. Goldberg, A., Rimington, C., Lochhead, A. C. Hereditary coproporphyria. Lancet 289: 632-636, 1967. Note: Originally Volume I.

12. Grandchamp, B., Phung, N., Nordmann, Y. Homozygous case of hereditary coproporphyria. (Letter) Lancet 310: 1348-1349, 1977. Note: Originally Volume II.

13. Gross, U., Puy, H., Meissauer, U., Lamoril, J., Deybach, J. C., Doss, M., Nordmann, Y., Doss, M. O. A molecular, enzymatic and clinical study in a family with hereditary coproporphyria. J. Inherit. Metab. Dis. 25: 279-286, 2002. [PubMed: 12227458, related citations] [Full Text: Springer, Pubget]

14. Haeger-Aronsen, B., Stathers, G., Swahn, G. Hereditary coproporphyria: study of a Swedish family. Ann. Intern. Med. 69: 221-227, 1968. [PubMed: 5667765, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

15. Hunter, J. A. A., Khan, S. A., Hope, E., Beattie, A. D., Beveridge, G. W., Smith, A. W. M., Goldberg, A. Hereditary coproporphyria. Photosensitivity, jaundice and neuropsychiatric manifestations associated with pregnancy. Brit. J. Derm. 84: 301-310, 1971. [PubMed: 5575195, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

16. Kohno, H., Furukawa, T., Yoshinaga, T., Tokunaga, R., Taketani, S. Coproporphyrinogen oxidase: purification, molecular cloning, and induction of mRNA during erythroid differentiation. J. Biol. Chem. 268: 21359-21363, 1993. [PubMed: 8407975, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

17. Lamoril, J., Martasek, P., Deybach, J.-C., Da Silva, V., Grandchamp, B., Nordmann, Y. A molecular defect in coproporphyrinogen oxidase gene causing harderoporphyria, a variant form of hereditary coproporphyria. Hum. Molec. Genet. 4: 275-278, 1995. [PubMed: 7757079, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

18. Lamoril, J., Puy, H., Gouya, L., Rosipal, R., Da Silva, V., Grandchamp, B., Foint, T., Bader-Meunier, B., Dommergues, J. P., Deybach, J. C., Nordmann, Y. Neonatal hemolytic anemia due to inherited harderoporphyria: clinical characteristics and molecular basis. Blood 91: 1453-1457, 1998. [PubMed: 9454777, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

19. Lamoril, J., Puy, H., Whatley, S. D., Martin, C., Woolf, J. R., Da Silva, V., Deybach, J.-C., Elder, G. H. Characterization of mutations in the CPO gene in British patients demonstrates absence of genotype-phenotype correlation and identifies relationship between hereditary coproporphyria and harderoporphyria. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 68: 1130-1138, 2001. [PubMed: 11309681, related citations] [Full Text: Elsevier Science, Pubget]

20. Lomholt, J. C., With, T. K. Hereditary coproporphyria: a family with unusually few and mild symptoms. Acta Med. Scand. 186: 83-85, 1969. [PubMed: 5807649, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

21. Martasek, P., Nordmann, Y., Grandchamp, B. Homozygous hereditary coproporphyria caused by an arginine to tryptophane substitution in coproporphyrinogen oxidase and common intragenic polymorphisms. Hum. Molec. Genet. 3: 477-480, 1994. [PubMed: 8012360, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

22. McIntyre, N., Pearson, A. J. G., Allan, D. J., Craske, S., West, G. M. L., Moore, M. R., Beattie, A. D., Paxton, J., Goldberg, A. Hepatic delta-aminolaevulinic acid synthetase in an attack of hereditary coproporphyria and during remission. Lancet 297: 560-564, 1971. Note: Originally Volume I.

23. Nordmann, Y., Grandchamp, B., de Verneuil, H., Phung, L., Cartigny, B., Fontaine, G. Harderoporphyria: a variant hereditary coproporphyria. J. Clin. Invest. 72: 1139-1149, 1983. [PubMed: 6886003, related citations] [Full Text: Journal of Clinical Investigation, Pubget]

24. Roberts, D. T., Brodie, M. J., Moore, M. R., Thompson, G. G. G., Goldberg, A., MacSween, R. N. M. Hereditary coproporphyria presenting with photosensitivity induced by the contraceptive pill. Brit. J. Derm. 96: 549-554, 1977. [PubMed: 871392, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

25. Schmitt, C., Gouya, L., Malonova, E., Lamoril, J., Camadro, J.-M., Flamme, M., Rose, C., Lyoumi, S., Da Silva, V., Boileau, C., Grandchamp, B., Beaumont, C., Deybach, J.-C., Puy, H. Mutations in human CPO gene predict clinical expression of either hepatic hereditary coproporphyria or erythropoietic harderoporphyria. Hum. Molec. Genet. 14: 3089-3098, 2005. [PubMed: 16159891, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

26. Wiman, A., Floderus, Y., Harper, P. Two novel mutations and coexistence of the 991C-T and the 1339C-T mutation on a single allele in the coproporphyrinogen oxidase gene in Swedish patients with hereditary coproporphyria. J. Hum. Genet. 47: 407-412, 2002. [PubMed: 12181641, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

Contributors: George E. Tiller - updated : 4/16/2009
Anne M. Stumpf - updated : 1/19/2007
Ada Hamosh - updated : 10/8/2003
Victor A. McKusick - updated : 8/6/2002
Victor A. McKusick - updated : 6/13/2001
Victor A. McKusick - updated : 1/12/1999
Victor A. McKusick - updated : 12/30/1998
Victor A. McKusick - updated : 5/19/1998
Victor A. McKusick - updated : 3/31/1998
Victor A. McKusick - updated : 2/28/1997
Creation Date: Victor A. McKusick : 6/4/1986
Edit History: wwang : 05/06/2010
ckniffin : 5/4/2010
carol : 4/17/2009
terry : 4/17/2009
carol : 4/16/2009
carol : 4/2/2009
terry : 1/13/2009
terry : 1/12/2009
alopez : 1/19/2007
carol : 3/17/2004
cwells : 10/8/2003
tkritzer : 8/9/2002
tkritzer : 8/8/2002
tkritzer : 8/8/2002
terry : 8/6/2002
cwells : 6/20/2001
cwells : 6/15/2001
terry : 6/13/2001
carol : 1/14/1999
terry : 1/12/1999
carol : 1/4/1999
terry : 12/30/1998
terry : 5/29/1998
carol : 5/22/1998
terry : 5/19/1998
terry : 5/19/1998
alopez : 3/31/1998
terry : 3/24/1998
mark : 2/28/1997
terry : 2/26/1997
mark : 4/4/1995
carol : 1/11/1995
mimadm : 6/25/1994
carol : 11/10/1993
supermim : 3/16/1992
carol : 3/4/1992