Challenge of phenotype estimation for optimal treatment of Krabbe disease

Krabbe disease is an autosomal recessive, inherited demyelinating disease caused by deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme galactocerebrosidase. It is recognized as one of the predominant genetic diseases showing leukodystrophy from infancy to adulthood. The clinical phenotype and genotype for this disease show considerable variation worldwide, which makes accurate diagnosis difficult. Effective therapy is limited, although hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at an early stage has been established to some extent. We report here the long-term clinical effect on juvenile Krabbe disease for two brothers who underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at an early stage of their disease. We review research into genotype-phenotype correlation for the possibility of early diagnosis at a presymptomatic stage. Medical care for this intractable disease will improve in the near future as a result of the increasing awareness of its molecular pathology and improvements in medical treatment. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.