Hunter Syndrome

Think of it this way: when your garbage can gets full, you take out the trash. But what if you can’t? What if bag after bag fills up, taking over your kitchen? Soon, it would be hard to walk around, cook, or clean. As the trash builds even higher, your kitchen becomes unusable. Similarly, children with Mucopolysaccharidosis Type II (MPS II), also known as Hunter syndrome, are unable to make the enzyme that takes care of our cellular garbage; their bodies becoming like the kitchen in this example.

Hunter syndrome is a rare genetic disease that is progressively debilitating, life-limiting and without a cure. It occurs almost exclusively in males and currently affects approximately 500 boys in the U.S. and less than 2,000 worldwide. Individuals with Hunter syndrome have a defect in the gene that normally causes the body to make the enzyme iduronate-2-sulfatase (I2S) – the “garbage man” – which is responsible for the breakdown of cellular waste called glycosaminoglycans or GAGs – the cell’s “garbage.” Without that necessary enzyme, the accumulation of these GAGs leads to progressive damage throughout the entire body.