Fabry Exercise Intolerance Study (FEISTY)

1. The development of energy metabolism in skeletal and cardiac muscle in FD is disturbed early on in disease development and this progresses as the disease worsens, resulting in reduced exercise capacity. 2) Intermittent CPX is an objective and sensitive tool to grade the level of exercise tolerance in FD patients and yields specific outcome parameters that can be used in future intervention studies.

Primary objectives: 1) To study the presence and extent of exercise intolerance in male, female FD patients with classical FD and men with non-classical FD, in different stages of the disease. 2) To determine the aetiology of exercise intolerance in FD. Secondary objectives: 1) To determine whether the exercise test protocol used in this study can be used as a clinical outcome measure in future intervention studies. 2) To investigate difference in the time-relation between V'O2 and circulatory, ventilatory and metabolic variables during intermittent exercise between FD patients groups (potentially providing an indication of the source of possibly slowed V'O2 kinetics).

Methods: This study will consist of two screening visits, one testing procedure visit, and an optional second visit for all subjects enrolled in the study. During the first testing visit two cardiopulmonary exercise (CPX) test will be performed. During the CPX tests gas exchange, ventilation, blood pressure and cardiac output will be measured and exhaustion level monitored. Before and after the tests a blood sample will be taken. The upper leg muscle strength and the leg muscle size will be assessed. In order to detect alterations in skeletal muscle energy metabolism, a needle biopsy of the upper leg muscle will be taken during the second optional study visit. In the biopsy specimen, lipidomics profile, electronic microscopic characteristics of muscle tissue and mitochondrial function will be assessed.