Enfermedad de Fabry y enfermedad renal terminal: importancia de la combinación del trasplante renal y la terapia de reemplazo enzimático
Introduction. Fabry disease (FD) is a lysosomal storage disease with an X-linked inheritance caused by an enzyme deficiency leading to tissue accumulation of globotriaosylceramide–GL-3, cellular dysfunction, and tissue inflammation, which will end in progressive damage to multiple organs if untreated. Symptomatology is multi-systemic. In advanced disease, kidney, heart and central nervous system are susceptible to such accumulation and are usually responsible for fatal outcomes. Cases presentation. Two FD cases treated with enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) shortly before receiving a cadaveric kidney transplant are presented. FD therapy is multidisciplinary, requires a symptomatic approach and ERT, targeted to substrate accumulation. ERT is beneficial for organ function and patients’ survival. ERT enables GL-3 clearance from different kidney cell lines, stabilization in glomerular filtration rate decline, and reduction of catastrophic kidney complications. After kidney transplantation, graft survival is similar to or better than transplant for other kidney diseases. Conclusions. A complete treatment must include kidney transplant and ERT. Our cases results confirm the beneficial effect of ERT in patients who underwent renal transplantation for FD-related end-stage renal disease (ESRD). When these patients with minimal disease burden in other organs timely receive a kidney transplant, their potential for a positive long-term outcome is evident.