Copyright ©ERS Journals Ltd 2003 Primary pulmonary hypertension after amfepramone (diethylpropion) with BMPR2 mutation1 Service de Génétique Médicale, Hôpital Erasme-Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, 2 Laboratory for Medical Genetics-Université Libre de Bruxelles, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Human and Molecular Biology, Free University of Brussels, Brussels, 3 St-Rembertziekenhuis, Torhout and 4 Gasthuisberg University Hospital, Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven, Leuven, Belgium CORRESPONDENCE: M.J. Abramowicz, Genetics Dept, Hôpital Erasme-ULB, 808 Lennik St., B-1070, Brussels, Belgium. Fax: 32 25554212. E-mail: marcabra@ulb.ac.be Keywords: appetite-suppressant drugs, bone morphogenetic protein receptor type II, primary pulmonary hypertension, serotonin
Received: October 18, 2002
M.J. Abramowicz is supported by the Fonds Forton/Fondation Roi Baudouin, Belgium, and by the Fonds de Recherche Clinique, Hôpital Erasme-Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Abstract
Primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) is characterised by sustained elevations of pulmonary arterial pressure without a demonstrable cause, leading to right ventricular failure and death. Hereditary mutations in the bone morphogenetic protein receptor type II (BMPR2) gene result in familial PPH transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait, albeit with low penetrance. The causes in cases without a BMPR2 mutation are unknown, but a syndrome of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) similar to hereditary PPH is associated with systemic connective tissue disease, congenital heart disease, portal hypertension, and human immunodeficiency virus infection, or with the use of appetite-suppressant drugs.
The authors identified a BMPR2 gene mutation in a 27-yr-old female who developed PAH after a short course of the appetite-suppressant drug amfepramone (diethylpropion). This allowed molecular genetic counselling and prevention of potentially harmful drug exposure in the patient's son treated for attention deficit disorder with methylphenidate, an amphetamine-related drug. No BMPR2 mutation was found in four additional, unrelated patients with appetite suppressant-related PPH.
The findings provide strong evidence that amfepramone can trigger primary pulmonary hypertension in a bone morphogenetic protein receptor type II gene mutation carrier, and indicate that other genes are probably implicated in genetic susceptibility to appetite suppressants.
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