Severe encephalopathy associated to pyruvate dehydrogenase mutations and unbalanced coenzyme Q10 content

Coenzyme Q(10) (CoQ(10)) deficiency is associated to a variety of clinical phenotypes including neuromuscular and nephrotic disorders. We report two unrelated boys presenting encephalopathy, ataxia, and lactic acidosis, who died with necrotic lesions in different areas of brain. Levels of CoQ(10) and complex II+III activity were increased in both skeletal muscle and fibroblasts, but it was a consequence of higher mitochondria mass measured as citrate synthase. In fibroblasts, oxygen consumption was also increased, whereas steady state ATP levels were decreased. Antioxidant enzymes such as NQO1 and MnSOD and mitochondrial marker VDAC were overexpressed. Mitochondria recycling markers Fis1 and mitofusin, and mtDNA regulatory Tfam were reduced. Exome sequencing showed mutations in PDHA1 in the first patient and in PDHB in the second. These genes encode subunits of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDH) that could explain the compensatory increase of CoQ(10) and a defect of mitochondrial homeostasis. These two cases describe, for the first time, a mitochondrial disease caused by PDH defects associated with unbalanced of both CoQ(10) content and mitochondria homeostasis, which severely affects the brain. Both CoQ(10) and mitochondria homeostasis appears as new markers for PDH associated mitochondrial disorders.