Acute infantile liver failure resulting from TRMU mutation is a transient disorder of hepatic function. In addition to elevated liver enzymes, jaundice, vomiting, coagulopathy, and hyperbilirubinemia, the presence of increased serum lactate is consistent with a defect in mitochondrial respiratory function. With supportive care, patients who survive the initial acute episode can recover and show normal development (Zeharia et al., 2009). See also transient infantile mitochondrial myopathy (MMIT; 500009), which is a similar disorder. A more severe, permanent disorder with some overlapping features is associated with mitochondrial DNA depletion (251880). See ILFS1 (615438) for information on syndromic infantile liver failure.

FBXL4-related encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) depletion syndrome is a multi-system disorder characterized primarily by congenital or early-onset lactic acidosis and growth failure, feeding difficulty, hypotonia, and developmental delay. Other neurologic manifestations can include seizures, movement disorders, ataxia, autonomic dysfunction, and stroke-like episodes. All affected individuals alive at the time they were reported (median age: 3.5 years) demonstrated significant developmental delay. Other findings can involve the heart (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, congenital heart malformations, arrhythmias), liver (mildly elevated transaminases), eyes (cataract, strabismus, nystagmus, optic atrophy), hearing (sensorineural hearing loss), and bone marrow (neutropenia, lymphopenia). Survival varies; the median age of reported deaths was two years (range 2 days – 75 months), although surviving individuals as old as 36 years have been reported. To date FBXL4-related mtDNA depletion syndrome has been reported in 50 individuals.