Treatment of symptomatic heterozygous aceruloplasminemia with oral zinc sulphate

Aceruloplasminemia is an autosomal recessive and phenotypically primarily neurodegenerative disease caused by a homozygous mutation of the ceruloplasmin gene. The absence of ceruloplasmin and its ferroxidase activity leads to pathological iron overload in the brain and other organs. While heterozygous carriers of ceruloplasmin gene mutations have been believed to be asymptomatic, a number of cases with neurological deficits have recently been described. To date, an effective treatment has not been established for either aceruloplasminemia or symptomatic heterozygous aceruloplasminemia. The present report concerns the beneficial treatment of an 18-year-old girl with extrapyramidal and cerebellar-mediated movement disorder caused by a heterozygous mutation of the ceruloplasmin gene using oral zinc sulphate.