Biallelic GALM pathogenic variants cause a novel type of galactosemia

Galactosemiais caused by metabolic disturbancesat various stages of galactosemetabolism, including deficiencies in enzymes involved in the Leloir pathway(GALT, GALK1, and GALE). Nevertheless, the etiology of galactosemiahas not been identified in a subset of patients. This study aimed to explore the causes of unexplained galactosemia. Trio-based exome sequencingand/or Sanger sequencingwas performed in eight patients with unexplained congenital galactosemia. In vitro enzymatic assays and immunoblot assays were performed to confirm the pathogenicity of the variants. The highest blood galactoselevels observed in each patient were 17.3–41.9 mg/dl. Bilateral cataracts were observed in two patients. In all eight patients, we identified biallelic variants (p.Arg82*, p.Ile99Leufs*46, p.Gly142Arg, p.Arg267Gly, and p.Trp311*) in the GALM encoding galactose mutarotase, which catalyzes epimerization between β- and α-D- galactosein the first step of the Leloir pathway. GALM enzyme activities were undetectable in lymphoblastoid cell lines established from two patients. Immunoblot analysis showed the absence of the GALM protein in the patients’ peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In vitro GALM expression and protein stability assays revealed altered stabilities of the variant GALM proteins. Biallelic GALM pathogenic variants cause galactosemia, suggesting the existence of type IV galactosemia.