Severe Hypercholesterolemia in Four British Families with the D374Y Mutation in the PCSK9 Gene: Long-term Follow-up and Treatment Response

Objective: Analysis of long-term (30 years) clinical history and response to treatment of 13 patients with the D374Y mutation of PCSK9 (PCSK9 patients) from 4 unrelated white British families compared with 36 white British patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia attributable to 3 specific mutations in the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor gene (LDLR) known to cause severe phenotype.

Methods And Results: The PCSK9 patients, when compared with the LDLR patients, were younger at presentation (20.8+/-14.7 versus 30.2+/-15.7 years; P=0.003), had higher pretreatment serum cholesterol levels (13.6+/-2.9 versus 9.6+/-1.6 mmol/L; P=0.004) that remained higher during treatment with simvastatin (10.1+/-3.0 versus 6.5+/-0.9 mmol/L; P=0.006), atorvastatin (9.6+/-2.9 versus 6.4+/-1.0 mmol/L; P=0.006), or current lipid-lowering therapy, including LDL apheresis and partial ileal bypass in 2 PCSK9 patients (7.0+/-1.6 versus 5.4+/-1.0 mmol/L; P=0.001), and were affected >10 years earlier by premature coronary artery disease (35.2+/-4.8 versus 46.8+/-8.9 years; P=0.002). LDL from PCSK9 patients competed significantly less well for binding to fibroblast LDL receptors than LDL from either controls or LDLR patients.

Conclusions: These British PCSK9 patients with the D374Y mutation have an unpredictably severe clinical phenotype, which may be a unique feature for this cohort, and requires early and aggressive lipid-lowering management to prevent cardiovascular complications.