Publications by authors named "Ans Van der Ploeg"

Article Synopsis
  • In three clinical trials involving 142 participants with Pompe disease, 17 were deemed suitable for home infusion of avalglucosidase alfa, receiving a total of 419 supervised infusions.
  • The majority of participants with late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) experienced non-serious adverse events, while those with infantile-onset Pompe disease (IOPD) did not report any adverse effects.
  • The safety and adverse event rates during home infusion were comparable to those during clinic infusions, indicating that home administration is feasible and safe for stable patients with a prior good infusion history.
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Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) is the only approved disease-modifying treatment modality for Pompe disease, a rare, inherited metabolic disorder caused by a deficiency in the acid -glucosidase (GAA) enzyme that catabolizes lysosomal glycogen. First-generation recombinant human GAA (rhGAA) ERT (alglucosidase alfa) can slow the progressive muscle degeneration characteristic of the disease. Still, most patients experience diminished efficacy over time, possibly because of poor uptake into target tissues.

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Article Synopsis
  • Clinical pathway recommendations (CPR) provide guidance on managing specific diagnoses, in this case, Pompe disease, a metabolic disorder caused by a deficiency in a specific enzyme.
  • The CPR document was created by a working group from MetabERN, which focuses on metabolic diseases, and involved systematic literature searches and quality assessments based on established methodologies.
  • This document aims to standardize care for Pompe disease patients by addressing various aspects including pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up strategies for healthcare providers.
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Classic infantile Pompe disease is caused by abnormal lysosomal glycogen accumulation in multiple tissues, including the brain due to a deficit in acid α-glucosidase. Although treatment with recombinant human acid α-glucosidase has dramatically improved survival, recombinant human acid α-glucosidase does not reach the brain, and surviving classic infantile Pompe patients develop progressive cognitive deficits and white matter lesions. We investigated the feasibility of measuring non-invasively glycogen build-up and other metabolic alterations in the brain of classic infantile Pompe patients.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The R-PAct scale is designed to measure how Pompe disease affects daily life, and this study aimed to validate it for use in different languages and countries.
  • - Researchers created German, French, Italian, and Spanish versions of the scale and collected data from Pompe patients in several countries, combining it with existing data for analysis.
  • - Results showed that the modified R-PAct scale is valid and effectively measures two key areas of patient activity, with a minor adjustment made to improve its reliability across diverse populations.
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  • Chronic respiratory insufficiency is a significant issue in late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD), leading to complications and mortality, and previous data suggested stable lung function with treatment.
  • This study analyzed long-term data from the Pompe Registry using a piecewise linear mixed model to assess changes in forced vital capacity (FVC) among patients receiving alglucosidase alfa, focusing on different treatment time frames.
  • Results showed improved FVC in the first 6 months of treatment, followed by modest declines over the next 5 to 13 years; while treatment benefits were noted, the majority of patients experienced lung function decline after 5 years, indicating an ongoing need for better long-term respiratory management.
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  • Two new enzyme replacement therapies for late-onset Pompe disease received approval from the European Medicines Agency between 2022 and 2023, prompting an update to treatment guidelines by the European Pompe Consortium (EPOC).
  • The EPOC, consisting of 25 experts from eight countries, developed a consensus on when to start, switch, or stop ERT based on in-person meetings and discussions.
  • Recommendations emphasize starting ERT in symptomatic patients, criteria for switching treatments based on muscle function stabilization, and the option of stopping ERT if there are severe reactions or lack of improvement, with regular assessments every six months to monitor progress.
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  • The PROPEL study compared a new therapy, cipaglucosidase alfa + miglustat (cipa + mig), to the standard treatment, alglucosidase alfa + placebo (alg + pbo), for adults with late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD).
  • An ongoing open-label extension study is assessing the long-term safety and effectiveness of cipa + mig, focusing on various outcome measures like walking distance and lung function.
  • After 104 weeks, patients on cipa + mig showed maintained improvements in walking distance and biomarkers with minimal safety concerns, indicating potential long-term benefits for those with LOPD.
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Background And Purpose: Pompe disease is a rare, inheritable, progressive metabolic myopathy. This study aimed to estimate the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for an improvement in forced vital capacity in the upright seated position (FVC) and the 6-min walk test (6MWT) after a year of treatment with enzyme replacement therapy.

Methods: Data were obtained from two prospective follow-up studies.

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Pompe disease is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by deficiency of acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA), resulting in glycogen accumulation with profound pathology in skeletal muscle. We recently developed an optimized form of lentiviral gene therapy for Pompe disease in which a codon-optimized version of the GAA transgene (LV-GAAco) was fused to an insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) peptide (LV-IGF2.GAAco), to promote cellular uptake via the cation-independent mannose-6-phosphate/IGF2 receptor.

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Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the leading genetic cause of infant mortality, characterized by progressive neuromuscular degeneration resulting from mutations in the survival motor neuron () gene. The availability of disease-modifying therapies for SMA therapies highlights the pressing need for easily accessible and cost-effective blood biomarkers to monitor treatment response and for better disease management. Additionally, the wide implementation of newborn genetic screening programs in Western countries enables presymptomatic diagnosis of SMA and immediate treatment administration.

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Deficiency of iduronate 2-sulfatase (IDS) causes Mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II), a lysosomal storage disorder characterized by systemic accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), leading to a devastating cognitive decline and life-threatening respiratory and cardiac complications. We previously found that hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell-mediated lentiviral gene therapy (HSPC-LVGT) employing tagged IDS with insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) or ApoE2, but not receptor-associated protein minimal peptide (RAP12x2), efficiently prevented brain pathology in a murine model of MPS II. In this study, we report on the effects of HSPC-LVGT on peripheral pathology and we analyzed IDS biodistribution.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cipaglucosidase alfa plus miglustat (cipa + mig) is a new two-part treatment for Pompe disease, assessed in the Phase I/II ATB200-02 study over 48 months.
  • The study involved four adult groups, including both ambulating and non-ambulating patients, who received specific doses of cipa and mig biweekly.
  • Results showed improvements in walking distances and respiratory capacity, especially in ERT-naïve patients, with the treatment generally well tolerated and a safety profile similar to existing therapies.
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Mucopolysaccharidosis type II (OMIM 309900) is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by iduronate 2-sulfatase (IDS) deficiency and accumulation of glycosaminoglycans, leading to progressive neurodegeneration. As intravenously infused enzyme replacement therapy cannot cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), it fails to treat brain pathology, highlighting the unmet medical need to develop alternative therapies. Here, we test modified versions of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC)-mediated lentiviral gene therapy (LVGT) using IDS tagging in combination with the ubiquitous MND promoter to optimize efficacy in brain and to investigate its mechanism of action.

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Background: Patients with Pompe disease, a rare metabolic myopathy, were thought to be at increased risk of severe COVID-19 disease during the pandemic. In addition, the lockdown may have affected their regular treatment.

Objective: To assess the perceived effect of COVID-19 infection and of the pandemic on the treatment, and physical and mental health of patients with Pompe disease.

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Background: In 2011 a 12 weeks personalized exercise training program in 23 mildly affected adult late onset Pompe patients (age 19.6-70.5 years) improved endurance, muscle strength and function.

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Background: Pompe disease is a lysosomal storage disease characterised by skeletal and respiratory muscle weakness. Since 2006, enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with alglucosidase alfa has been available. ERT significantly improves the prognosis of patients with Pompe disease.

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Background And Objectives: Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) has substantially improved the outcome of classic infantile Pompe disease, an inheritable muscle disease previously fatal at infancy. However, under treatment, patients develop white matter abnormalities and neurocognitive problems. Therefore, upcoming therapies also target the brain.

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Background: Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with alglucosidase alfa is the treatment for patients with Pompe disease, a hereditary metabolic myopathy. Home-based ERT is unavailable in many countries because of the boxed warning alglucosidase alfa received due to the risk of infusion-associated reactions (IARs). Since 2008, home infusions have been provided in The Netherlands.

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Background: Pompe disease is a lysosomal storage disease treated with life-long enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). Home-based ERT has been provided in the Netherlands since 2008 because it diminishes the burden of treatment, increases patient flexibility and autonomy, and is thus a more patient-centred approach to ERT.

Methods: All Dutch Pompe patients receiving alglucosidase alfa infusions at home were approached to participate in a questionnaire to validate the safety of home-based ERT.

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Importance: In the previously reported Comparative Enzyme Replacement Trial With neoGAA Versus rhGAA (COMET) trial, avalglucosidase alfa treatment for 49 weeks showed clinically meaningful improvements in upright forced vital capacity (FVC) percent predicted and 6-minute walk test (6MWT) compared with alglucosidase alfa.

Objective: To report avalglucosidase alfa treatment outcomes during the COMET trial extension.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This phase 3 double-blind randomized clinical trial with crossover in the extension period enrolled patients 3 years and older with previously untreated late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) between November 2, 2016, and February 10, 2021, with primary analysis after 49 weeks.

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Pompe disease is a rare, progressive, and metabolic myopathy. Reduced pulmonary function is one of the main problems seen in adult patients with late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD). We aimed to explore the association between changes over time in pulmonary function and in patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), in these patients treated with enzyme replacement therapy (ERT).

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Enzyme replacement therapy has drastically changed prospects of patients with Pompe disease, a progressive metabolic myopathy. As classic infantile patients survive due to treatment, they exhibit progressive white matter abnormalities, while brain involvement in late-onset patients is not fully elucidated. To study the underlying microstructure of white matter, we acquired structural (T1, T2, FLAIR) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the brain in 12 classic infantile patients (age 5-20 years) and 18 late-onset Pompe patients (age 11-56 years).

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Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPSs) and mucolipidosis II and III (ML II and III) often manifest with orofacial (progressive) abnormalities, which may have a major impact on quality of life. However, because these patients have multiple somatic health issues, orofacial problems are easily overlooked in clinical practice and available literature on this topic solely consists of case reports, small case series, and small cohort studies. The aim of this systematic review was to gain more insight in the nature and extent of orofacial abnormalities in MPS, ML II, and III.

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