Preclinical studies with ground germinated barley (GGB) for oral enzyme replacement therapy (Oral-ERT) in Pompe disease knockout mice

Genetic deficiency of lysosomal acid maltase or acid -glucosidase (GAA) results in the orphan disease known as glycogen storage disease type II or acid maltase deficiency (AMD) or Pompe disease (PD), encompassing at least four clinical subtypes of varying severity. PD results from mutations in the GAA gene and deficient GAA activity, resulting in the accumulation of glycogen in tissues (primarily muscle) and characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness and respiratory insufficiency. The current approved enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for PD is via intravenous infusion of a recombinant human GAA (rhGAA) secreted by CHO cells (Myozyme, Sanofi-Genzyme) given once every 2 weeks and has shown varying efficacy in patients. Although the current ERT has proven to be very efficient in rescuing cardiac abnormalities and extending the life span of infants, the response in skeletal muscle is variable. In late-onset patients, only mild improvements in motor and respiratory functions have been achieved and the current ERT is unsatisfactory in the reversal of skeletal muscle pathology. Additional challenges for ERT include insufficient targeting/uptake of enzyme into disease-relevant tissues, poor tolerability due to severe ERT-mediated anaphylactic and immunologic reactions and the prohibitively high cost of lifelong ERT ($250-500K/year adult patient). A consensus at a Nov.-2019 US Acid Maltase Deficiency Association conference suggested that a multi-pronged approach including gene therapy, diet, exercise, etc. must be evaluated for a successful treatment. Our objective is to develop an innovative and affordable approach via barley GAA (bGAA) from ground germinated barley (GGB) or liquid GGB (L-GGB) for Oral-ERT for PD or as a daily supplement to Myozyme. To this end, we hypothesize that a bGAA produced in germinated barley can be ingested daily that allows the maintenance of a therapeutic level of enzyme. We have shown in extensive preliminary data that GGB or L-GGB was (1) enzymatically active, (2) was taken up by GAA KO mice and human WBCs to reverse the enzyme defect that was blocked by mannose-6-phosphate, (3) hydrolyzed glycogen, (4) increased significant changes in the clinical phenotype towards the WT levels in GAA KO mice dose-dependently, (5) taken up by PD myoblasts, lymphoid/fibroblasts cells to reverse the defect, (6) bGAA was [~]70kD, (7) Km, Vmax, pH optima, inhibitors and kinetics was similar to human placental GAA and an rhGAA and (8) was strain specific.