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Lenz-Majewski hyperostotic dwarfism (LMHD) is an ultra-rare Mendelian craniotubular dysostosis that causes skeletal dysmorphism and widely distributed osteosclerosis. Biochemical and histopathological characterization of the bone disease is incomplete and nonexistent, respectively. In 2014, a publication concerning five unrelated patients with LMHD disclosed that all carried one of three heterozygous missense mutations in PTDSS1 encoding phosphatidylserine synthase 1 (PSS1). PSS1 promotes the biosynthesis of phosphatidylserine (PTDS), which is a functional constituent of lipid bilayers. In vitro, these PTDSS1 mutations were gain-of-function and increased PTDS production. Notably, PTDS binds calcium within matrix vesicles to engender hydroxyapatite crystal formation, and may enhance mesenchymal stem cell differentiation leading to osteogenesis. We report an infant girl with LMHD and a novel heterozygous missense mutation (c.829T>C, p.Trp277Arg) within PTDSS1. Bone turnover markers suggested that her osteosclerosis resulted from accelerated formation with an unremarkable rate of resorption. Urinary amino acid quantitation revealed a greater than sixfold elevation of phosphoserine. Our findings affirm that PTDSS1 defects cause LMHD and support enhanced biosynthesis of PTDS in the pathogenesis of LMHD., (© 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.)

A selective and sensitive method has been developed for the analysis of free and bound forms of O-phosphoamino acids, such as O-phosphoserine, O-phosphothreonine and O-phosphotyrosine, in urine samples by gas chromatography (GC). For free O-phosphoamino acid analysis, the urine sample was extracted with trichloroacetic acid and run through an ion exchange column. For total (free plus bound) O-phosphoamino acid analysis, the urine sample was hydrolysed in acid and base in order to release the O-phosphoamino acid from peptides or proteins. O-Phosphoamino acids in these prepared samples were converted into their N-isobutoxycarbonyl trimethyl ester derivatives and then measured by GC with flame photometric detection (FPD-GC). The calibration curve was linear in the range of 10-500 ng for each O-phosphoamino acid, and the detection limits were 30-80 pg as injection amounts. O-Phosphoamino acids in the urine samples could be selectively determined by the FPD-GC method without any influence from coexisting substances. The recoveries of O-phosphoamino acids added to urines and urine hydrolysates were 90-98% and relative standard deviations were 1.5-8.0%. By using this method, we investigated an age dependence of O-phosphoamino acid excretion in normal subjects.

The occurrence of O-phosphoserine (P-Ser), O-phosphothreonine (P-Thr) and O-phosphotyrosine (P-Tyr) in the hydrolysate of human urine was demonstrated. Urine samples were separated into non-adsorbed and adsorbed fractions by DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. After acid and base hydrolyses of these fractions, the O-phosphoamino acids in the hydrolysates were converted into their N-isobutoxycarbonyl methyl ester derivatives and identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. By gas chromatography with flame photometric detection, the urinary contents of P-Ser, P-Thr and P-Tyr were estimated to be 945 +/- 3, 109 +/- 3 and 2.9 +/- 0.2 ng/ml, respectively.

We used heat inactivation, L-phenylalanine inhibition, and electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel and cellulose acetate membranes--with and without use of specific antisera against the liver-bone, intestinal, and placental isoenzymes--to distinguish and quantitate the different alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes in sera from 23 adult members of a kindred affected by the adult form of hypophosphatasia. Nine subjects had values for total activity more than two standard deviations below the mean values for age- and sex-matched normal persons. Bone isoenzyme was diminished in all nine, whereas liver isoenzyme was subnormal in only four. Phosphoethanolamine and phosphoserine in the urine of eight hypophosphatasemic individuals correlated inversely with both total and liver alkaline phosphatase activity in their serum, but not with the activity of the bone isoenzyme. Total activity in the serum of adult kindred members correlated best with the circulating liver isoenzyme activity. The findings suggest that altered hepatic metabolism is responsible for the increased urinary excretion of phosphoethanolamine, and perhaps phosphoserine, in hypophosphatasia.