Infantile Hypophosphatasia: Enzymatic Defect Explored with Alkaline Phosphatase-deficient Skin Fibroblasts in Culture

Evidence that infantile hypophosphatasia may result from defective regulation of an intact structural gene for the tissue nonspecific (bone/liver/kidney) isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP) was explored by studying physicochemical properties of ALP in sonicates of monolayers of cultured dermal fibroblasts from 7 patients (PT) and 5 age- and sex-matched control (CT) subjects. Both groups had low levels of ALP activity when assayed with 4-methylumbelliferyl phosphate substrate. The mean specific activity of ALP in the PT fibroblasts was markedly subnormal (Vmax less than 1% of CT), but apparently not from extracellular loss of enzyme, since defined medium had less ALP activity when conditioned by PT compared to CT cells. Although the mean Km for the sonicate ALP was similar for both groups at pH 10.1, pH optimum, thermal stability and response to several inhibitors appeared to be different. Nevertheless, it seemed that some TNSALP-like enzyme was present in the PT group. Exposure of cells in culture to 5-azacytidine and several putative inducers of ALP failed to increase the enzyme activity in either the PT or CT groups. Had the physicochemical properties of the constitutive (or inducible) ALP been the same in the PT and CT cell groups, the findings would have provided evidence for the generality of our previous observations in one patient which indicated that defective regulation of an intact structural gene for TNSALP could account for hypophosphatasia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)