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PKU |
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Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a human genetic disorder that occurs in about 1 in 15,000 births, but the incidence varies widely in different human populations from 1 in 4,500 births among the Irish to fewer than one in 100,000 births among the population of Finland.
PKU usually is caused by a defective gene for the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH). It is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. A rarer form of the disease occurs when PAH is normal but its cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is not synthesized by the patient.
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