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FGF-23 was recently shown to be involved in the development of several hypophosphatemic diseases, including X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia (XLH) and tumor-induced rickets/osteomalacia (TIO). FGF-23 is processed between Arg179 and Ser180, and only full-length FGF-23 was shown to cause hypophosphatemia. Two assays for FGF-23 have been reported. One assay detects only full-length FGF-23. In contrast, the C-terminal assay recognizes both full-length and processed C-terminal fragment of FGF-23. However, discrepant results concerning circulatory levels of FGF-23 in patients with TIO and XLH have been reported using these two assays. We simultaneously measured FGF-23 levels in 13 patients with adult-onset hypophosphatemic osteomalacia and 29 patients with XLH by these two assays. The full-length assay indicated that FGF-23 was above the upper limit of the reference range in all patients with osteomalacia and in 24 of 29 patients with XLH. However, the C-terminal assay in dicated that FGF-23 was within the reference range in 3 of 13 patients with osteomalacia and 16 of 29 patients with XLH. In addition, there was no correlation between FGF-23 levels measured by these assays in patients with XLH whose FGF-23 was within the reference range by C-terminal assay. These results indicate that FGF-23 within the reference range by C-terminal assay does not rule out an increase in full-length FGF-23. In addition, because FGF-23 was high in most of these hypophosphatemic patients, these results support the notion that FGF-23 plays a major role in the development of hypophosphatemia in patients with TIO and XLH.

Context: X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia (XLH), autosomal dominant and recessive hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia (ADHR and ARHR) share common clinical features including high fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) levels. These diseases are caused by mutations in phosphate regulating endopeptidase homolog, X-linked (PHEX), FGF23, and dentin matrix acidic phosphoprotein 1 (DMP1) gene respectively. It remains unclear whether these diseases can be clinically discriminated. Objective: To clarify the underlying mechanism of patients with hypophosphatemic rickets whose parents showed no physical findings suggesting rickets. Design and patients: The proband is a 39-year-old woman. She and her 37-year-old brother show the same clinical features such as bowing of legs together with hypophosphatemia (sister: P 1.8 mg/dl, brother: P 1.6 mg/dl) and high FGF23 levels (sister: 542 pg/ml, brother: 96 pg/ml). Physical findings of their parents are normal and ARHR was suspected. Results: Sequencing of all coding exons and exon-intron junctions of DMP1 and FGF23 genes showed no mutation. Subsequent analysis revealed that there is a deletion of 52 143 bp including exons 1-3 in PHEX gene in the brother. His sister was found to be a heterozygote for the same deletion indicating that they are suffering from XLH. The same deletion was detected in the mother. However, the amount of the wild-type allele was more and that of the mutant one was less in genomic DNA from the mother compared with those from the sister. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis indicated that the mother has three kinds of PHEX alleles suggesting a somatic mosaicism. Conclusion: Careful genetic analysis is mandatory for correct differential diagnosis of hypophosphatemic rickets with high FGF23 levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]