Karen L Ericson

University of British Columbia - Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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Publications (17)43.97 Total impact

  • Article: Severe skeletal toxicity from protracted etidronate therapy for generalized arterial calcification of infancy.
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    ABSTRACT: Generalized arterial calcification (AC) of infancy (GACI) is an autosomal recessive disorder that features hydroxyapatite deposition within arterial elastic fibers. Untreated, approximately 85% of GACI patients die by six months-of-age from cardiac ischemia and congestive heart failure. The first-generation bisphosphonate etidronate (EHDP) inhibits bone resorption and can mimic endogenous inorganic pyrophosphate by blocking mineralization. With EHDP therapy for GACI, AC may resolve without recurrence upon treatment cessation. Skeletal disease is not an early characteristic of GACI, but rickets can appear from acquired hypophosphatemia or prolonged EHDP therapy. We report a 7-year-old boy with GACI referred for profound, acquired, skeletal disease. AC was gone after five months of EHDP therapy during infancy, but GACI-related joint calcifications progressed. He was receiving EHDP, 200 mg/day orally, and had odynodysphagia, diffuse opioid-controlled pain, plagiocephaly, facial dysmorphism, joint calcifications, contractures, and was wheelchair bound. Biochemical parameters of mineral homeostasis were essentially normal. Serum osteocalcin was low and the brain isoform of creatine kinase and TRAP-5b were elevated as in osteopetrosis. Skeletal radiographic findings resembled pediatric hypophosphatasia with pancranial synostosis, long-bone bowing, widened physes, as well as metaphyseal osteosclerosis, cupping and fraying, and "tongues" of radiolucency. Radiographic features of osteopetrosis included osteosclerosis and femoral Erlenmeyer flask deformity. After stopping EHDP, he improved rapidly, including remarkable skeletal healing and decreased joint calcifications. Profound, but rapidly reversible, inhibition of skeletal mineralization with paradoxical calcifications near joints can occur in GACI from protracted EHDP therapy. Although EHDP treatment is life-saving in GACI, surveillance for toxicity is crucial. © 2012 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
    Journal of bone and mineral research: the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 09/2012; · 6.04 Impact Factor
  • Article: "Atypical femoral fractures" during bisphosphonate exposure in adult hypophosphatasia.
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    ABSTRACT: We report a 55-year-old woman who suffered atypical subtrochanteric femoral fractures (ASFFs) after 4 years of exposure to alendronate and then zolendronate given for "osteoporosis." Before alendronate treatment, she had low bone mineral density. After several months of therapy, metatarsal stress fractures began. Bisphosphonate (BP) administration was stopped following the ASFFs, and the adult form of hypophosphatasia (HPP) was diagnosed from low serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, high endogenous levels of two natural substrates for the "tissue-nonspecific" isoenzyme of ALP (TNSALP), and a heterozygous mutation within the gene that encodes this enzyme. Experience with other HPP families showed that her mutation (Arg71His) with a second defective TNSALP allele can cause severe HPP in infancy, and when heterozygous can cause mild HPP featuring premature loss of deciduous teeth in children. Because the skeletal disease of HPP results from extracellular accumulation of the TNSALP substrate inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) and its inhibitory effect on mineralization, perhaps HPP patients or carriers will have adverse effects from BPs. BPs are analogues of PPi and can suppress bone turnover but also deactivate TNSALP. Our report is the first of BP exposure preceding ASFFs in adult HPP. To explore a potential role for TNSALP deactivation in ASFFs, mutation analysis of TNSALP should be studied in a cohort of these patients. Meanwhile, clinicians must suspect HPP when clinical or laboratory clues include premature loss of primary dentition, pseudofractures or recurrent poorly healing metatarsal stress fractures, a family history suggestive of HPP, or low serum ALP activity. If HPP is documented, BP treatment might be avoided. To establish the diagnosis of HPP, assays for two natural substrates for TNSALP and TNSALP mutation analysis are available in commercial laboratories. With positive findings, radiological or bone biopsy evidence of acquired osteomalacia would indicate the adult form of this inborn-error-of-metabolism.
    Journal of bone and mineral research: the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 02/2012; 27(5):987-94. · 6.04 Impact Factor
  • Article: Hypophosphatasia: nonlethal disease despite skeletal presentation in utero (17 new cases and literature review).
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    ABSTRACT: Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is caused by deactivating mutation(s) within the gene that encodes the tissue-nonspecific isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP). Patients manifest rickets or osteomalacia and dental disease ranging from absence of skeletal mineralization in utero to only loss of adult dentition. Until recently, HPP skeletal disease in utero was thought to always predict a lethal outcome. However, several reports beginning in 1999 emphasized a benign prenatal form of HPP (BP-HPP) where skeletal disease detected in utero had a mild postnatal course. Here we describe prenatal and postnatal findings of 17 additional BP-HPP patients among our 178 pediatric HPP patients. Their findings are compared with those of their siblings with HPP, carrier parents, and others with identical TNSALP mutations. New information concerning 7 previously published BP-HPP patients accompanies a review of the HPP literature. Among our 17 BP-HPP patients, prenatal ultrasound showed normal chest or abdominal circumferences where recorded. Sometimes, poor skeletal mineralization, fetal crowding, and third-trimester improvement were observed. Postnatally, extremity bowing further improved (13 patients). BP-HPP severity postnatally spanned the "infantile" to "odonto" HPP phenotypes, resembling our patients who harbored identical TNSALP mutation(s). Eight had autosomal dominant (AD) and 9 had autosomal recessive (AR) BP-HPP. Fourteen of our 15 mothers were HPP carriers or affected. Of the 41 cumulative BP-HPP patients (24 literature cases meriting a BP-HPP diagnosis since 1996 plus our 17 patients), 63% had AR BP-HPP. Maternally transmitted HPP involved 11 of the 13 total AD BP-HPP probands (p = 0.01), supporting a maternal in utero effect on the baby. Fetal crowding, normal fetal mineralization and chest size, and TNSALP heterozygosity seem to identify BP-HPP. However, bowed fetal long bones with AR HPP, specific TNSALP mutations, or poor skeletal mineralization before the third trimester do not reliably diagnose HPP lethality.
    Journal of bone and mineral research: the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 06/2011; 26(10):2389-98. · 6.04 Impact Factor
  • Article: Stability of analytes related to clinical chemistry and bone metabolism in blood specimens after delayed processing.
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    ABSTRACT: We investigated the stability of 36 analytes related to clinical chemistry in a controlled storage study. Blood was collected from 11 subjects and was maintained for 45 min, 2.5 h, 5 h, or 24 h after phlebotomy before centrifugation. Statistically significant changes were observed only for parathyroid hormone, osteocalcin, zinc, pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, and homocysteine. These studies indicate that many analytes in clinical chemistry are stable for 24 h before centrifugation.
    Clinical biochemistry 03/2009; 42(9):907-10. · 2.02 Impact Factor
  • Article: Autosomal recessive hypophosphatasia manifesting in utero with long bone deformity but showing spontaneous postnatal improvement.
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    ABSTRACT: Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is a heritable metabolic disorder of the skeleton that includes variable expressivity conditioned by gene dosage effect and the variety of mutations in the tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP) gene. Patient age when skeletal problems first manifest generally predicts the clinical course, with perinatal HPP causing bone disease in utero with postnatal lethality. Our objective was to identify TNSALP mutations and characterize the inheritance pattern of a family with clinically variable HPP with one child manifesting in utero with long bone deformity but showing spontaneous prenatal and postnatal improvement. TNSALP enzyme and substrate analysis and TNSALP mutation analysis were performed on all family members. A boy with HPP showing long bone deformity that spontaneously improved in utero and after birth is described. His older brother has the childhood form of HPP without findings until after infancy. His parents and twin sister are clinically unaffected. Both boys are compound heterozygotes for the same missense mutations in TNSALP, documenting autosomal recessive inheritance for their HPP. The parents each carry one defective allele. The patient is an autosomal recessive case of HPP with prenatal long bone deformity but with spontaneous prenatal and postnatal improvement. Thus, prenatal detection by sonography of bowing of long bones from HPP, even with autosomal recessive inheritance, does not necessarily predict lethality but can represent variable expressivity or the effects of modifiers on the TNSALP defect(s).
    Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &amp Metabolism 07/2008; 93(9):3443-8. · 6.50 Impact Factor
  • Article: N-methylpyridoxamine: novel canine vitamin B6 urine metabolite.
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    ABSTRACT: Cation-exchange HPLC analysis of urine from dogs given large daily doses of pyridoxamine revealed an unidentified metabolite hypothesized to be N-methylpyridoxamine. Identity was established by N-methylpyridoxamine synthesis and HPLC comparison to the canine metabolite. Compound synthesis was confirmed by IR, NMR, UV-vis and emission spectroscopy. It seems to have less fluorescent character than other routinely-measured vitamin B(6) metabolites. Upon administration of substantial pyridoxamine doses, N-methylpyridoxamine appears to be a quantifiable canine urine metabolite, although, at either pharmacological or dietary pyridoxamine intakes, its relevance to vitamin B(6) metabolism in other species, including humans, is not yet determined.
    Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters 04/2008; 18(6):1845-8. · 2.65 Impact Factor
  • Article: Pyridoxine-responsive seizures as the first symptom of infantile hypophosphatasia caused by two novel missense mutations (c.677T>C, p.M226T; c.1112C>T, p.T371I) of the tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase gene.
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    ABSTRACT: Pyridoxine-responsive seizures (PRS) and the role of pyridoxine (PN, vitamin B(6)) in hypophosphatasia (HPP) are incompletely understood. Typically, PRS and HPP are rare, independent, metabolic disorders. In PRS, seizures resist standard anticonvulsants apart from PN, yet have a good prognosis. In HPP, inactivation of the tissue nonspecific isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP) impairs skeletal mineralization and causes rickets in infants that can be fatal. Here, we report a 7-month-old girl, newly diagnosed with infantile HPP, who presented as a neonate with PRS but without bony abnormalities. Analysis of biogenic amines in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) suggested brain pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) deficiency, although PLP in CSF was not decreased. She had normal cognitive milestones but failure to thrive and rickets. Nearly undetectable serum ALP activity, elevated plasma PLP and urinary phosphoethanolamine (PEA) and inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) levels, hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis were consistent with infantile HPP. Only prednisolone reduced serum calcium levels. Despite improved growth and weight gain, she developed rib fractures and died from respiratory failure at age 9 months. Sequence analysis of the TNSALP gene revealed novel missense mutations in exon 7 (c.677T>C, p.M226T) and exon 10 (c.1112C>T, p.T371I). Our patient demonstrated that PRS in neonates may not necessarily be "idiopathic"; instead, such seizures can be caused by severe HPP that becomes clinically apparent later in infancy. The pathophysiology of PRS in HPP differs from the three other genetic defects known to cause PRS, but all may lead to brain PLP deficiency reducing seizure thresholds. All reported HPP patients with neonatal seizures died within 18 months of birth, suggesting that PRS is an indicator of HPP severity and lethal prognosis. We recommend that assessment of any neonate with PRS should include measurement of serum ALP activity.
    Bone 06/2007; 40(6):1655-61. · 4.02 Impact Factor
  • Article: Use of chlorite to improve HPLC detection of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate.
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    ABSTRACT: The sensitivity of fluorescent detection of the biologically active form of Vitamin B-6, pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP), in biological samples has been improved approximately four-fold by adopting chlorite as a post-column derivatization reagent (instead of bisulfite) in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation. Chlorite oxidizes PLP to the more fluorescent 4-pyridoxic acid 5'-phosphate, and avoids the toxicity and heating of the cyanide procedure. Detection of another major metabolite, 4-pyridoxic acid (4-PA), is not effected. Detection of pyridoxal (PL) is slightly lowered due to eluting at a lower pH.
    Journal of Chromatography B 10/2005; 823(2):218-20. · 2.89 Impact Factor
  • Article: Modeling short (7 hour)- and long (6 week)-term kinetics of vitamin B-6 metabolism with stable isotopes in humans.
    Advances in experimental medicine and biology 02/2003; 537:173-92. · 1.09 Impact Factor
  • Article: Elevated plasma 4-pyridoxic acid in renal insufficiency.
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    ABSTRACT: Renal insufficiency is associated with altered vitamin B-6 metabolism. We have observed high concentrations of 4-pyridoxic acid, the major catabolite of vitamin B-6 metabolism, in plasma during renal insufficiency. The objective was to evaluate the renal handling of 4-pyridoxic acid and the effects of renal dysfunction on vitamin B-6 metabolism. We measured the renal clearance of 4-pyridoxic acid and creatinine in 17 nonpregnant, 17 pregnant, and 16 lactating women. We then examined the influence of vitamin B-6 or alkaline phosphatase activity on the ratio of 4-pyridoxic acid to pyridoxal (PA:PL) in plasma in 10 men receiving a low (0.4 mg pyridoxine.HCl/d) or high (200 mg pyridoxine.HCl/d) vitamin B-6 intake for 6 wk, in 10 healthy subjects during a 21-d fast, in 1235 plasma samples from 799 people screened for hypophosphatasia, and in 67 subjects with a range of serum creatinine concentrations. Renal clearance of 4-pyridoxic acid was 232 +/- 94 mL/min in nonpregnant women, 337 +/- 140 mL/min in pregnant women, and 215 +/- 103 mL/min in lactating healthy women. These values were approximately twice the creatinine clearance, indicating that 4-pyridoxic acid is at least partially eliminated by tubular secretion. Elevated plasma creatinine concentrations were associated with marked elevations in 4-pyridoxic acid and PA:PL. PA:PL was not affected by wide variations in vitamin B-6 intake or by the wide range of pyridoxal-P concentrations encountered while screening for hypophosphatasia. Plasma 4-pyridoxic acid concentrations are markedly elevated in renal insufficiency. Plasma PA:PL can distinguish between increases in 4-pyridoxic acid concentrations due to increased dietary intake and those due to renal insufficiency.
    American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 02/2002; 75(1):57-64. · 6.67 Impact Factor
  • Article: Autosomal recessive hypophosphatasia manifesting in utero with long bone deformity but showing spontaneous postnatal improvement
    Chemistry Faculty Presentations.
  • Article: N-methylpyridoxamine as a Possible Vitamin B-6 Metabolite in the Urine of Dogs
    Chemistry Faculty Presentations.
  • Article: Research Involving Vitamin B-6
    Karen L. Ericson
    Chemistry Faculty Presentations.
  • Article: Stability of Analytes Related to Bone Metabolism in Blood Specimens after Delayed Processing
    Chemistry Faculty Publications.
  • Article: Use of Chlorite to Improve HPLC Detection of Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate
    Chemistry Faculty Publications.
  • Article: Pyridoxine-Responsive Seizures as the First Symptom of Infantile Hypophosphatasia Caused by Two Novel Missense Mutations (c.677T>C, p.M226T; c.1112C>T, p.T371I) of the Tissue-nonspecific Alkaline Phosphatase Gene
    Chemistry Faculty Publications.
  • Article: Nutritional Status Assessment Before, During, and After Long-Duration Head-Down Bed Rest
    Chemistry Faculty Publications.