#243500 ICD+
  • ICD10CM: E71.110,
  • SNOMEDCT: 87827003
ICD10CM: E71.110, SNOMEDCT: 87827003
ISOVALERIC ACIDEMIA; IVA

Alternative titles; symbols
ISOVALERIC ACID CoA DEHYDROGENASE DEFICIENCY
IVD DEFICIENCY

Phenotype Gene Relationships
Location Phenotype Phenotype
MIM number
Gene/Locus Gene/Locus
MIM number
15q15.1 Isovaleric acidemia 243500 IVD 607036


TEXT
A number sign (#) is used with this entry because isovaleric acidemia is caused by mutation in the isovaleryl CoA dehydrogenase gene (IVD; 607036).

Description
In the metabolic pathways, isovaleric acidemia is closely related to maple syrup urine disease (248600).

Clinical Features
Two forms of isovaleric acidemia, possibly allelic, are recognized: the acute neonatal form, leading to massive metabolic acidosis from the first days of life and rapid death (e.g., Newman et al., 1967), and a chronic form in which periodic attacks of severe ketoacidosis occur with asymptomatic intervening periods (e.g., Tanaka et al., 1966).

Budd et al. (1967) observed brother and sister who, before the age of 6 months, showed retarded psychomotor development, a peculiar odor resembling sweaty feet, an aversion to dietary protein, and pernicious vomiting, leading to acidosis and coma. The unusual smell was identified as isovaleric acid, an intermediary of leucine, by experts of the Arthur D. Little Co., Industrial Consultants, Cambridge, Mass.

Sidbury et al. (1967) observed that 3 of 4 children of a second-cousin marriage died in the first 2 weeks of life with the following symptoms after the first 3 days: convulsions, lethargy, dehydration, moderate hepatomegaly, depressed platelets and leukocytes, and an unusual urinary odor like that of sweaty feet. Postmortem examination showed mainly changes related to the hematologic findings: hypoplastic marrow, scattered hemorrhages of viscera, and terminal septicemia. The unusual odor was the result of butyric and hexanoic acids. They suggested that it is an inborn error of short-chain fatty acid metabolism and, more specifically, that a defect in green acyl dehydrogenase may be involved. In a second family a brother and sister with unrelated parents had a similar ailment. These cases are considered to have been instances of isovaleric acidemia.

Ando et al. (1971) showed that isovaleric acidemia can produce hyperglycinemia and leukopenia, as well as episodic ketoacidosis, thus resembling propionic acidemia and methylmalonic acidemia.

A patient with the chronic intermittent type of the disease, born to unrelated Icelandic parents, was described by Gerdes et al. (1988).

In a review of inherited metabolic disorders and stroke, Testai and Gorelick (2010) noted that patients with branched-chain organic aciduria, including isovaleric aciduria, propionic aciduria (606054), and methylmalonic aciduria (251000) can rarely have strokes. Cerebellar hemorrhage has been described in all 3 disorders, and basal ganglia ischemic stroke has been described in propionic aciduria and methylmalonic aciduria. These events may occur in the absence of metabolic decompensation.

Clinical Management
Cohn et al. (1978) demonstrated that administration of glycine reduces isovaleric acidemia in neonates by conjugating isovaleric acid, with urinary excretion of the conjugate. Naglak et al. (1988) also demonstrated that, in addition to restriction of leucine intake, glycine supplementation can be useful in management. They suggested that clinical and biochemical measures should be used as guides to determine the amount of leucine that can be tolerated and the optimum glycine supplement for each patient.

Pathogenesis
The phenotypic abnormalities in this disorder result from an accumulation of isovaleric acid, which is toxic to the central nervous system. An alternative pathway through glycine-N-acylase (EC 2.3.1.13) allows detoxification by producing isovalerylglycine, which is excreted.

Rhead and Tanaka (1980) demonstrated a specific deficiency of mitochondrial isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity in skin fibroblasts from patients with IVA. Mitochondrial butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity was maintained at normal levels. Although clinical heterogeneity is observed, cell-fusion studies (Dubiel et al., 1983) involving 12 cell lines, each from a different patient and representing a variety of clinical presentation, showed no complementation. Complementation was observed when IVA cells were fused with those from glutaric aciduria IIB (231680). The authors concluded that the same gene, coding for isovaleryl CoA dehydrogenase, was mutated in all cell lines.

Molecular Genetics
Despite the findings from complementation studies indicating the involvement of a single IVD gene in this disorder (Dubiel et al., 1983), analysis of the variant enzyme in 15 IVA fibroblast cell lines showed 5 distinct classes of variants which differed in subunit molecular size. Ikeda et al. (1985) suggested that these variants, in which residual enzyme activity was reduced to 0 to 3% of normal, were caused by point mutations or premature terminations.

In a patient with type I isovaleric acidemia, Vockley et al. (1991) demonstrated a change of thymine-125 to cytosine in the IVD gene, which was predicted to cause a substitution of proline for leucine at position 13 of the mature IVD protein (L13P; 607036.0001).

Since the implementation, in many states and countries, of newborn screening by tandem mass spectrometry, presymptomatic diagnosis of isovaleric acidemia has been possible. Molecular genetic analysis of the IVD gene in 19 subjects whose condition was detected through newborn screening led to the identification of 1 recurring mutation, 932C-T (A282V; 607036.0007) in 47% of mutant alleles (Ensenauer et al., 2004). Surprisingly, family studies identified 6 healthy older sibs with identical genotype and biochemical evidence of isovaleric acidemia. The findings indicated the frequent occurrence of a novel mild and potentially asymptomatic phenotype of IVA. This has significant consequences for patient management and counseling.

See Also:
Ando et al. (1973); de Sousa et al. (1986); Duran et al. (1979); Efron (1967); Fischer et al. (1981); Kelleher et al. (1980); Tanaka et al. (1968)

REFERENCES
1. Ando, T., Klingberg, W. G., Ward, A. N., Rasmussen, K., Nyhan, W. L. Isovaleric acidemia presenting with altered metabolism of glycine. Pediat. Res. 5: 478-486, 1971.

2. Ando, T., Nyhan, W. L., Bachmann, C., Rasmussen, K., Scott, R., Smith, E. K. Isovaleric acidemia: identification of isovalerylglycine, and 3-hydroxyisovalerate in urine of a patient previously reported as having butyric and hexanoic acidemia. J. Pediat. 82: 243-248, 1973. [PubMed: 4684367, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

3. Budd, M. A., Tanaka, K. R., Holmes, L. B., Efron, M. L., Crawford, J. D., Isselbacher, K. J. Isovaleric acidemia: clinical feature of a new genetic defect of leucine metabolism. New Eng. J. Med. 277: 321-327, 1967. [PubMed: 4378266, related citations] [Full Text: Atypon, Pubget]

4. Cohn, R. M., Yudkoff, R., Rothman, R., Segal, S. Isovaleric acidemia: use of glycine therapy in neonates. New Eng. J. Med. 299: 996-999, 1978. [PubMed: 692626, related citations] [Full Text: Atypon, Pubget]

5. de Sousa, C., Chalmers, R. A., Stacey, T. E., Tracey, B. M., Weaver, C. M., Bradley, D. The response to L-carnitine and glycine therapy in isovaleric acidaemia. Europ. J. Pediat. 144: 451-456, 1986. [PubMed: 3956533, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

6. Dubiel, B., Dabrowski, C., Wetts, R., Tanaka, K. Complementation studies of isovaleric acidemia and glutaric aciduria type II using cultured skin fibroblasts. J. Clin. Invest. 72: 1543-1552, 1983. [PubMed: 6630517, related citations] [Full Text: Journal of Clinical Investigation, Pubget]

7. Duran, M., van Sprang, F. J., Drewes, J. G., Bruinvis, L., Ketting, D., Wadman, S. K. Two sisters with isovaleric acidemia, multiple attacks of ketoacidosis and normal development. Europ. J. Pediat. 131: 205-211, 1979. [PubMed: 477679, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

8. Efron, M. L. Isovaleric acidemia. Am. J. Dis. Child. 113: 74-76, 1967. [PubMed: 6015910, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

9. Ensenauer, R., Vockley, J., Willard, J.-M., Huey, J. C., Sass, J. O., Edland, S. D., Burton, B. K., Berry, S. A., Santer, R., Grunert, S., Koch, H.-G., Marquardt, I., Rinaldo, P., Hahn, S., Matern, D. A common mutation is associated with a mild, potentially asymptomatic phenotype in patients with isovaleric acidemia diagnosed by newborn screening. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 75: 1136-1142, 2004. [PubMed: 15486829, related citations] [Full Text: Elsevier Science, Pubget]

10. Fischer, A. Q., Challa, V. R., Burton, B. K., McLean, W. T. Cerebellar hemorrhage complicating isovaleric acidemia: a case report. Neurology 31: 746-748, 1981. [PubMed: 7195490, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

11. Gerdes, A.-M., Gregersen, N., Ludvigsson, P., Guttler, F. A Scandinavian case of isovaleric acidaemia. J. Inherit. Metab. Dis. 11: 219-220, 1988. [PubMed: 3139936, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

12. Ikeda, Y., Keese, S. M., Tanaka, K. Molecular heterogeneity of variant isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase from cultured isovaleric acidemia fibroblasts. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 82: 7081-7085, 1985. [PubMed: 3863140, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

13. Kelleher, J. F., Jr., Yudkoff, M., Hutchinson, R., August, C. S., Cohn, R. M. The pancytopenia of isovaleric acidemia. Pediatrics 65: 1023-1027, 1980. [PubMed: 7367115, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

14. Naglak, M., Salvo, R., Madsen, K., Dembure, P., Elsas, L. The treatment of isovaleric acidemia with glycine supplement. Pediat. Res. 24: 9-13, 1988. [PubMed: 3137519, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

15. Newman, C. G. H., Wilson, B. D. R., Callaghan, P., Young, L. Neonatal death associated with isovalericacidaemia. Lancet 290: 439-441, 1967. Note: Originally Volume II.

16. Rhead, W. J., Tanaka, K. Demonstration of a specific mitochondrial isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency in fibroblasts from patients with isovaleric acidemia. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 77: 580-583, 1980. [PubMed: 6928646, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

17. Sidbury, J. B., Jr., Smith, E. K., Harlan, W. An inborn error of short-chain fatty acid metabolism: the odor-of-sweaty-feet syndrome. J. Pediat. 70: 8-15, 1967. [PubMed: 6016812, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

18. Tanaka, K., Budd, M. A., Efron, M. L., Isselbacher, K. J. Isovaleric acidemia: a new genetic defect of leucine metabolism. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 56: 236-242, 1966. [PubMed: 5229850, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

19. Tanaka, K., Orr, J., Isselbacher, K. J. Identification of b-hydroxyisovaleric acid in the urine of a patient with isovaleric acidemia. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 152: 638-641, 1968. [PubMed: 5656832, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

20. Testai, F. D., Gorelick, P. B. Inherited metabolic disorders and stroke part 2: homocystinuria, organic acidurias, and urea cycle disorders. Arch. Neurol. 67: 148-153, 2010. [PubMed: 20142522, related citations] [Full Text: HighWire Press, Pubget]

21. Vockley, J., Parimoo, B., Tanaka, K. Molecular characterization of four different classes of mutations in the isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase gene responsible for isovaleric acidemia. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 49: 147-157, 1991. [PubMed: 2063866, related citations] [Full Text: Pubget]

Contributors: Cassandra L. Kniffin - updated : 10/11/2010
Victor A. McKusick - updated : 11/12/2004
Cassandra L. Kniffin - updated : 7/2/2002
Victor A. McKusick - updated : 3/31/2000
Creation Date: Victor A. McKusick : 6/3/1986
Edit History: carol : 11/15/2010
wwang : 10/29/2010
ckniffin : 10/11/2010
terry : 3/5/2009
terry : 6/9/2005
terry : 4/20/2005
terry : 4/6/2005
carol : 12/9/2004
alopez : 11/18/2004
terry : 11/12/2004
carol : 7/2/2002
ckniffin : 7/2/2002
ckniffin : 6/27/2002
ckniffin : 6/13/2002
mgross : 4/10/2000
terry : 3/31/2000
carol : 6/19/1998
terry : 6/4/1998
davew : 8/19/1994
carol : 5/10/1994
terry : 5/9/1994
mimadm : 2/19/1994
carol : 1/4/1993
supermim : 3/16/1992