The clinical significance of the biochemical consequences that result from the genetic abnormalities in patients with CPT II Deficiency is a contested issue. Rufer et al. support the theory that there is an association between level of enzyme activity and clinical presentation.[14] Multiple research groups have transfected COS-1 cells with different CPT II mutations and found varying levels of reduction in enzyme activity compared with controls: Phe352Cys reduced enzyme activity to 70% of wild-type, Ser113Leu reduced enzyme activity to 34% of wild-type, and several severe mutations reduced activity to 5-10% of wild-type.[8]
However, most researchers are reluctant to accept the existence of a causal relationship between enzyme functionality and clinical phenotype.[8] Two groups[2][15] have recently reported a limited correlation (lacking in statistical significance) between the genotypic array and the clinical severity of the phenotype in their patient cohorts. There is a need for further explorations of this topic in order to fully assess the biochemical ramifications of this enzymatic deficiency.
The rate of long-chain fatty acid oxidation in CPT II-deficient patients has been proposed to be a stronger predictor of clinical severity than residual CPT II enzyme activity. For example, one study found that although the level of residual CPT II activity in adult versus infantile onset groups overlapped, a significant decrease in palmitate oxidation was noted in the infantile group when compared to the adult group.[16] This group concluded that both the type and location of CPT2 mutation in combination with at least one secondary genetic factor modulate the long-chain fatty acid flux and, therefore, the severity of the disease.[16]