Prenatal exclusion of purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency

Persistent developmental delay despite successful bone marrow transplantation for purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency

A 10-month-old girl with a history of recurrent candidiasis, developmental delay, and a fulminant varicella infection is described. The diagnosis of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) deficiency was suggested by a reduced level of serum uric acid and confirmed by measurement of PNP activity. A human leukocyte antigen-matched bone marrow transplantation resulted in immune reconstitution, but poor neurodevelopmental progression.

Determination of purine nucleoside phosphorylase activity in human erythrocytes by capillary electrophoresis

Purine nucleoside phosphorylase (EC 2.4.2.1) activity in human erythrocytes was measured using capillary electrophoresis. Enzyme samples were directly loaded into the capillary without preconcentration or purification. The electrophoretic separations were carried out in an uncoated fused-silica capillary (75 microm internal diameter, effective length of 45 cm, total 72 cm) at an electric field of 415 V/cm at ambient temperature (25 degrees C). UV detection at 200 nm was used. Borate buffer (100 mmol/l, pH 9.5) was used as background electrolyte. The results obtained by CE compared favourably (r=0.989) with those of standard HPLC methods. The method presented is reliable, slightly faster and less expensive than the routinely performed HPLC method.

Correction of purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency by transplantation of allogeneic bone marrow from a sibling

Deficiency of the purine salvage pathway enzyme purine nucleoside phosphorylase causes a combined immunodeficiency and neurologic abnormalities and is usually fatal in childhood. We report the first successful transplantation of bone marrow from a sibling with identical class II human leukocyte antigens in this condition, demonstrating correction of both lymphocyte metabolic and functional abnormalities.

Prenatal diagnosis of purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy

Prenatal diagnosis was performed in two successive pregnancies of a mother with a previous child with purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) deficiency. In one pregnancy, an affected fetus was diagnosed in the 18th week of gestation after the demonstration of PNP deficiency in cultured amniotic fluid cells. Also an abnormal purine nucleoside profile was found in the amniotic fluid. The diagnosis of an affected fetus was confirmed by the analysis of cultured fetal skin fibroblasts and placental villi. The complete deficiency of PNP activity in placental villi confirms that the prenatal diagnosis of this disorder is possible by the direct investigation of chorionic villi. In the subsequent pregnancy, a heterozygous fetus was predicted in the tenth week of pregnancy by using chorionic villi.

Altered erythrocyte nucleotide patterns are characteristic of inherited disorders of purine or pyrimidine metabolism

This paper compares erythrocyte nucleotide levels in patients with eight different inherited purine or pyrimidine enzyme defects identified amongst a variety of patients referred predominantly for investigation of severe neurological abnormalities, or immunodeficiency syndromes. Characteristic nucleotide patterns were identified only in the six disorders (four involving purine and two pyrimidine metabolism) where there was clinical evidence of cellular toxicity. They were frequently related to the accumulation of abnormal metabolites in body fluids. These erythrocyte studies have demonstrated the following. 1. ATP depletion is not an invariable feature of adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency, but the accumulation of the deoxyribonucleotides dATP, or dGTP, is diagnostic of ADA, or purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) deficiency, respectively. The early accumulation of dATP in foetal blood is a valuable aid to prenatal diagnosis of ADA deficiency. 2. GTP depletion appears to reflect the degree of CNS involvement in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase and PNP deficiency, as well as PP-ribose-P synthetase superactivity. Other diagnostic changes involving increased pyrimidine sugars and increased or decreased NAD levels, or ZTP in Lesch Nyhan erythrocytes, show no consistent correlation with the clinical manifestations. 3. These altered nucleotide levels afford a novel means for carrier detection of the X-linked defect associated with aberrant PP-ribose-P synthetase activity, where no other test is yet available. Measurement of erythrocyte nucleotide levels thus provides a simple and rapid aid to diagnosis and may sometimes be essential for determining prognosis, carrier detection, or monitoring therapy. These characteristic 'fingerprints' may give some insight into the mechanism by which the abnormal gene product produces disease. Such grossly altered nucleotide levels could also result in loss of erythrocyte flexibility, increased destruction and hence the anaemia, or other clinical manifestations, observed in some disorders.

First trimester diagnosis of adenosine deaminase deficiency

Adenosine deaminase deficiency has been detected in the first trimester by direct analysis of enzyme activity in chorionic villi in a pregnancy at risk. Data for purine nucleoside phosphorylase activity in chorionic villi from healthy controls in the first trimester are also presented and should allow equally rapid diagnosis of this disorder.