Mucopolysaccharidosis type II, Hunter's syndrome.

Hunter syndrome is caused by deficiency of the lysososmal enzyme iduronate-2-sulphatase that cleaves O-linked sulphate moieties from dermatan sulphate and heparan sulphate and leads to accumulation of GAGs. The disease is a X-linked condition affecting males and rarely females, clinically divided into severe (2/3) and attenuated types. Children with severe form, diagnosed at 12-36 months, have coarse facial feature, short stature, joint stiffness, short neck, broad chest, large head circumference, watery diarrhea, skeletal changes, progressive and profound mental retardation, retinal degeneration' hearing loss, cardiomyopathy, valvular involvement, with progressive thickening and stiffening of the valve leaflets leading to mitral and aortic regurgitation and stenosis . Recurrent and prolonged rhinitis with persistent nasal discharge are the first symptoms of airway disease that manifests itself as noisy breathing and later sleep apnea. Some patients develop ivory-colored skin lesions on the upper back and sides of the upper arms, pathogenomic of Hunter syndrome. The scalp hair becomes coarse, straight and bristly. Inguinal and umbilical hernias occur caused by the disturbed structure of connective tissue and increased liver and spleen volume. Patients with attenuated form have normal intelligence and a milder phenotype. Physical features diagnosed later are similar but less pronounced but progress to severe disease. Sceening is by quantitative assessment of urinary GAGs excretion. Qualitative assessment of GAG by electrophoresis can distinguish the type of mucopolysaccharidosis. Definitive diagnosis is based on enzyme activity assay in leukocytes, fibroblasts or plasma. Molecular testing is recommended mainly for genetic counseling and carrier detection. Limited experience of Haematopoietic stem cell therapy in MPS II showed progressive neurodegeneration. Recombinant 125 Idursulfase, is indicated for long-term treatment. The response appears to depend on the severity of the disease and the age treatment is started, Improvements in a composite endpoint comprising: change in walking distance percentage of predicted forced vital capacity (%FVC) ,decrease in liver and spleen volume and urinary GAG levels were encouraging. Current research is focused on pharmacological chaperones, gene therapy and substrate reduction therapy and therapies that, unlike Idursulfase, do cross the blood-brain barrier.