Transcriptome and Metabolic Analyses of CHAPLE Disease

CHAPLE syndrome (complement hyperactivation, angiopathic thrombosis, protein losing enteropathy) is a newly discovered genetic disorder, which is caused by deleterious mutations in the CD55 gene. Patients often suffer from chronic manifestations that may lead to life-threatening complications despite conventional treatment options.The cause of gastrointestinal protein loss is distorted lacteals in the gut, referred to as primary intestinal lymphangiectasia (PIL). There is a second group of patients with PIL with intact CD55, referred to here as "non-CHAPLE PIL". The current study aims to explore the signatures of CHAPLE and non-CHAPLE PILs, discover druggable molecular targets and identify biomarkers that can direct therapy. A subgroup of patients with CHAPLE syndrome receive treatment with a complement C5 blocker, eculizumab, on an off-label basis. This study involves serial transcriptome and metabolic profiling of biological samples under eculizumab therapy and correlates them with the clinical response. Overall, the aim of this research is to integrate clinical data and high-throughput metabolic profiling approaches to better characterize the etiology of PILs and develop novel therapeutic approaches.