Chronic granulomatous disease in two children with recurrent infections: family studies using dihydrorhodamine-based flow cytometry

The role of neutrophils in host defense and disease

Neutrophils, the most abundant circulating leukocyte, are critical for host defense. Granulopoiesis is under the control of transcriptional factors and culminates in mature neutrophils with a broad armamentarium of antimicrobial pathways. These pathways include nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase, which generates microbicidal reactive oxidants, and nonoxidant pathways that target microbes through several mechanisms. Activated neutrophils can cause or worsen tissue injury, underscoring the need for calibration of activation and resolution of inflammation when infection has been cleared. Acquired neutrophil disorders are typically caused by cytotoxic chemotherapy or immunosuppressive agents. Primary neutrophil disorders typically result from disabling mutations of individual genes that result in impaired neutrophil number or function, and provide insight into basic mechanisms of neutrophil biology. Neutrophils can also be activated by noninfectious causes, including trauma and cellular injury, and can have off-target effects in which pathways that typically defend against infection exacerbate injury and disease. These off-target effects include acute organ injury, autoimmunity, and variable effects on the tumor microenvironment that can limit or worsen tumor progression. A greater understanding of neutrophil plasticity in these conditions is likely to pave the way to new therapeutic approaches.

Spectrum of primary immune deficiency at a tertiary care hospital

OBJECTIVE

To report various primary immune deficiencies diagnosed in children at a tertiary care hospital, their clinical manifestations and laboratory profile.

METHODS

Case records of children diagnosed to have primary immunodeficiency disorders over a period of 24 months at a tertiary care hospital in northern India were evaluated.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven children (M: F=3.5: 1) with mean age of 5.4 +/- 4.6 yrs (2 mo-16 yr) were diagnosed to have primary immunodeficiency. Thirteen children had chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), 4 had severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), 4 had hypogammaglobulinemia, 2 had Ataxia telangiectasia, and one each had DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott Aldrich syndrome, hyper IgM syndrome and leukocyte adhesion defect. Common mode of presentation were recurrent/ persistent pneumonia in 19, recurrent/ persistent diarrhea in 10, deep seated abscesses in 8, allergy in 3, disseminated tuberculosis infection in 2, extensive fungal infections in 2 and 1 each of disseminated cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, disseminated BCG disease, otitis media and meningitis. Family history of sibling deaths was elicited in 2 families. Infectious agents were isolated in 16 cases.

CONCLUSION

From a single center 27 patients with primary immune deficiency could be identified by chart review, suggesting need for high index of suspicion for diagnosis of primary immune deficiency in India. Though the exact prevalence is not known there is need to make a registry to document the magnitude of problem of these disorders.

Chronic granulomatous disease in pediatric patients: 25 years of experience

INTRODUCTION

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an uncommon primary immune deficiency (affecting 1/200,000 newborn infants) caused by a defect in phagocyte production of oxygen metabolites, and resulting in bacterial infections produced by catalase-positive microorganisms and fungal diseases that occasionally may prove fatal.

METHODS

A review is made of the clinical records of 13 pediatric patients diagnosed with CGD between 1980 and 2005.

RESULTS

All patients were males. The mean age at diagnosis was 36 months. The clinical manifestations at the time of diagnosis comprised the following: Abscesses or abscessified adenopathies 4/13 (Staphylococcus aureus (2), Serratia liquefaciens, S. marcescens and Klebsiella sp.), pneumonia 3/13 (Rhodococcus equi, Salmonella typhimurium plus Pneumocystis jiroveci), osteomyelitis 1/13 (Aspergillus sp.), sepsis 1/13 (S. aureus), urinary infection 1/13 (Klebsiella sp.), severe gastroenteritis 1/13, oral aphthae 1/13 and Crohn-like inflammatory bowel disease 1/13. The diagnosis was initially established by the nitroblue tetrazolium test, and confirmed by flow cytometry 10/13 and genetic techniques (gp91) 9/13. In the course of these disease processes there were 88 infections: abscesses (n = 26), lymphadenitis (n = 12), pneumoniae (n = 10), gastroenteritis (n = 7), sepsis (n = 6), osteomyelitis (n = 3) and others (n = 24). As to the germs isolated, the frequency distribution was as follows (n = 49): Aspergillus sp. (n = 10), Staphylococcus sp. (n = 7), Salmonella sp. (n = 6), Serratia sp. (n = 5), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 4), Klebsiella sp. (n = 4), Proteus sp. (n = 3), Leishmania sp. (n = 2) and others (n = 8). IFN-gamma was administered in 7/13 cases, and itraconazole in 9/13; all received cotrimoxazole. There were four deaths, with one case each of sepsis due to gramnegative bacterial infection; disseminated aspergillosis; visceral leishmaniasis and hemophagocytosis; and post-kidney transplant complications.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical suspicion and flow cytometry are the keys for diagnosis of CGD and detection of carrier relatives. Specific prophylactic measures and medical controls are required to prevent serious infections. IFN-gamma has been used intermittently, though its effectiveness is controversial.

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) and complete myeloperoxidase deficiency both yield strongly reduced dihydrorhodamine 123 test signals but can be easily discerned in routine testing for CGD

BACKGROUND

The flow cytometric dihydrorhodamine 123 (DHR) assay is used as a screening test for chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), but complete myeloperoxidase (MPO) deficiency can also lead to a strongly decreased DHR signal. Our aim was to devise simple laboratory methods to differentiate MPO deficiency (false positive for CGD) and NADPH oxidase abnormalities (true CGD).

METHODS

We measured NADPH-oxidase and MPO activity in neutrophils from MPO-deficient patients, CGD patients, NADPH-oxidase-transfected K562 cells and cells with inhibited and substituted MPO.

RESULTS

Eosinophils from MPO-deficient individuals retain eosinophilic peroxidase and therefore generate a normal DHR signal. The addition of recombinant human MPO enhances the DHR signal when simply added to a suspension of MPO-deficient cells but not when added to NADPH-oxidase-deficient (CGD) cells. Lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence (LCL) is increased in neutrophils from MPO-deficient patients, whereas neutrophils from patients with CGD show a decreased response.

CONCLUSIONS

A false-positive result caused by MPO deficiency can be easily ascertained because, unlike cells from a CGD patient, cells from MPO-deficient patients (a) contain functionally normal eosinophils, (b) show a significant enhancement of the DHR signal following addition of rhMPO, and (c) generate a strong LCL signal.

Granulocyte function disorders: aspects of development, genetics and management

The field of phagocytic disorders has attained major biologic and clinical significance in the past 40 years. The development of exciting new techniques in molecular biology and the cellular physiology of signal transduction have made it possible to identify the genetic defects involved in many of these disorders. Moreover through immunopharmacologic intervention, bone marrow or peripheral or cord blood stem cell transplantation along with the prospect of gene therapy, we have begun attempts to at least partially correct genetic defects in cell development and activation pathways in the entire spectrum of phagocyte disorders. Carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis employing with chain reaction techniques or direct nucleotide sequencing in fetal blood have made these diseases potentially preventable or treatable in utero or shortly after birth.

Applications of flow cytometry to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Applications of flow cytometry to clinical and experimental hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are discussed in this review covering the following topics: diagnosis and classification of lymphohematologic disorders, quantitation of hematopoietic progenitors in the graft, lymphohematopoietic reconstitution following HSCT and animal models of human HSCT. At the end, the utilization of flow cytometry in clinical HSCT by Brazilian transplant centers is briefly reviewed.

Chronic granulomatous disease in Japan: incidence and natural history. The Study Group of Phagocyte Disorders of Japan

PURPOSE

To analyze the incidence and causes of fatality of patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) in Japan and to provide an opportunity for comparison with reports from other countries.

METHODS

The Study Group of Phagocytic Disorders in Japan conducted a questionnaire survey on CGD patients in Japan, results of which formed the basis of the study.

RESULTS

Clinical details of 221 patients were analyzed: 194 male and 27 female (ratio: 7.2/1), 152 living, 51 dead and 18 unknown. The prevalence of CGD was estimated to be 1/287,709 live births. The fatality rate was 23.1%. The mean age of the surviving patients increased from 8 years 4 months in 1985 to 16 years 0 months in 1998. Although the mean age of death was advanced by 4 years 11 months during the same period of time, the fatality rate has remained practically unchanged during the past 13 years. The number of living adult patients has tended to increase (32.1%). At the time of study, approximately 90% of patients had been placed on sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim prophylactically or therapeutically, either singly or in combination with other modalities, including interferon-gamma, antifungal agents and various antibiotics. Pulmonary infections were responsible for 58.3% of fatalities.

CONCLUSIONS

With early diagnosis and prompt institution of appropriate therapy, the mean age of CGD patients in Japan has been increasing, but the fatality rate has remained practically unchanged during the last 13 years, mostly due to the fungal infections.