Structural bases of Wolman disease and cholesteryl ester storage disease

To elucidate the bases of Wolman disease (WD) and cholesteryl ester storage disease (CESD) from the viewpoint of enzyme structure, we constructed a structural model of human lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) using molecular modeling software Modeller. The results revealed that the residues responsible for WD/CESD tend to be less solvent-accessible than others. Then, we examined the structural changes in the LAL protein caused by the WD/CESD mutations, using molecular modeling software TINKER. The results indicated that conformational changes of the functionally important residues and/or large conformational changes tend to cause the severe clinical phenotype (WD), whereas small conformational changes tend to cause the mild clinical phenotype (CESD), although there have been several exceptions. Further structural analysis is required to clarify the relationship between the three-dimensional structural changes and clinical phenotypes.

► We built a structural model of human lysosomal acid lipase.
► The residues responsible for WD/CESD tend to be more interior than the others.
► Large conformational changes tend to cause the severe clinical phenotype (WD).
► Conformational changes of the functionally important residues tend to cause WD.
► Small conformational changes tend to cause the mild clinical phenotype.