Fucosidosis

Fucosidosis is a lysosomal storage disease that affects many areas of the body, especially the brain. Affected individuals have intellectual disability that worsens with age, and many develop dementia later in life. People with this condition often have delayed development of motor skills such as walking, and the skills they do acquire often deteriorate over time. In severe cases, symptoms appear in infancy; in milder cases, symptoms begin at age 1 or 2. Fucosidosis is caused by mutations in the FUCA1 gene. This condition is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern, which means both copies of the gene in each cell have mutations. The only currently available treatment is bone marrow transplant, the results of which have been variable and need further study.