Familial hypobetalipoproteinemia 1

Individuals with biallelic APOB-related familial hypobetalipoproteinemia (APOB-FHBL) may present from infancy through to adulthood with a range of clinical symptoms including deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins and gastrointestinal and neurologic dysfunction. Affected individuals typically have plasma total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and apo B levels below the fifth centile for age and sex. Acanthocytosis, elevated liver enzymes, and hyperbilirubinemia may also be found. The most common clinical findings are hepatomegaly, steatorrhea, and failure to thrive / growth deficiency. In the absence of treatment, affected individuals can develop atypical pigmentation of the retina; progressive loss of deep tendon reflexes, vibratory sense, and proprioception; muscle pain or weakness; dysarthria; ataxia; tremors; and steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and rarely, cirrhosis of the liver. Individuals with a heterozygous, typically truncating pathogenic variant in APOB are usually asymptomatic with mild liver dysfunction and hepatic steatosis. However, about 5%-10% of individuals with heterozygous APOB-FHBL develop relatively more severe nonalcoholic steatohepatitis requiring medical attention and occasionally progressing to cirrhosis, albeit very rarely.

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