Retention of lysosomal acid sphingomyelinase protects from Niemann-Pick Disease.

ABSTRACT: Niemann-Pick Disease (NPD) types A and B are lysosomal storage disorders resulting from dysfunction or loss of acid sphingomyelinase (aSMase), which hydrolyzes sphingomyelin (SM) to ceramide and phosphocholine. Patients with NPD-A develop severe neurologic and visceral pathology and rarely live beyond the age of 3 years, while patients with NPD-B typically live to adolescence/early adulthood without neurologic involvement. There are currently no therapies for NPD-A. SMPD1, the gene that encodes aSMase, gives rise to two distinct enzymes - lysosomal sphingomyelinase (L-SMase) and secretory sphingomyelinase (S-SMase), with the latter being associated with inflammation and chemokine amplification. This study sought to define the role of secretory-deficient aSMase variants in NPD. Human NPD fi

SUBMITTER: Beard CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12834037 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature