Sea blue histiocytosis in a patient with chronic non-neuropathic Niemann-Pick disease

Cirrhosis and liver failure: expanding phenotype of Acid sphingomyelinase-deficient niemann-pick disease in adulthood. JIMD Rep. 2015;15:117-121. [PMID: 24718843 DOI: 10.1007/8904_2014_306]

Acid sphingomyelinase-deficient Niemann-Pick disease (ASMD) includes the severe neuronopathic type A, the non-neuronopathic type B, and rare intermediate cases. Here we report on such an atypical type B patient who died at 31 years of age from liver failure. This male subject was first seen in a paediatric department at the age of 3 years because of significant hepatosplenomegaly. Foam cells in bone marrow, interstitial pneumonitis, a slight facial dysmorphy and normal psychomotor development were additional findings. Acid sphingomyelinase studies in lymphocytes (and later SMPD1 gene studies [c.151_154delGACT; c.1341-21_1341-18delAATG]) established the diagnosis of ASMD. Between the ages 6-27, he developed growth retardation, peripheral neuropathy, kyphoscoliosis, alopecia, and aortic valve insufficiency requiring valve replacement. Surgery for bilateral inguinal hernias was performed twice, when the patient was 10 and 21 years of age, respectively. At the age of 28, he was noted to have hepatosplenomegaly and follow-up investigations revealed ascites and gastric varices. Liver biopsy showed cirrhosis without areas of necrosis (A6 in Child-Pugh classification). He developed haematemesis and worsening encephalopathy leading to his death at age 31. In conclusion, cirrhosis should be considered as a possible complication of ASMD in adult patients, even if hepatic tests are normal.

Metabolic lung disease: imaging and histopathologic findings

Metabolic lung disease includes pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP), pulmonary amyloidosis, metastatic pulmonary calcification, dendritic pulmonary ossification, pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis, and storage diseases. In pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, CT demonstrates air-space consolidation with thickened interlobular septa, producing the so-called "crazy paving" appearance. Pulmonary amyloidosis can appear as parenchymal nodules (nodular parenchymal form), diffuse interstitial deposit (diffuse interstitial form), or submucosal deposits in the airways (tracheobronchial form). Metastatic pulmonary calcification may appear on high-resolution CT as numerous 3- to 10-mm diameter calcified nodules or, more commonly as fluffy and poorly defined nodular opacities. In pulmonary microlithiasis, high-resolution CT demonstrates diffuse punctuate micronodules showing slight perilobular predominance resulting in apparent calcification of interlobular septa. Niemann-Pick disease appears as ground-glass attenuation in the upper lung zone and thickening of the interlobular septa in the lower lung zone. Radiologic study including high-resolution CT will be helpful for the diagnosis and follow-up of these diseases.

Case report. Pulmonary involvement in an adult male affected by type B Niemann-Pick disease

We report the case of a 39-year-old male patient affected by type B Niemann-Pick disease, in whom pulmonary involvement became evident 15 years after the initial diagnosis. Pulmonary involvement was discovered incidentally during the evaluation of a dry cough and exertional dyspnoea which occurred in the context of an acute febrile, self-limiting illness. In this case, the pulmonary involvement is clinically mild, with minimal alteration of the diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DL(CO)), despite moderate fibrosis and widespread infiltration of both alveoli and interstitium by sea blue histiocytes.

Pulmonary involvement in Niemann-Pick disease: case report and literature review

Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) is a rare, inherited, autosomal recessive, lipid storage disease. The pathognomonic intracellular accumulation of sphingomyelin results in the production and accumulation of 'foam cells'. Interstitial lung disease is a rare manifestation of NPD. We present the case of a 48-year-old white female with NPD involving the lungs, liver and spleen. The chest radiograph showed bilateral, predominantly basal reticulonodular infiltrates and serial pulmonary function tests over a period of years showed preserved expiratory airflow and a severely decreased diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO). In view of her visceral involvement, lack of neurological symptoms and survival into adulthood, we believe our patient represents a case of type B NPD. In this type of NPD, aside from prominent hepatosplenomegaly and sexual immaturity, significant pulmonary infiltration with 'Pick cells' has been reported. To date, no therapeutic modality has been shown to alter the natural history of this disease, which results in progressive debilitation and death. This case is unique in that it provides the longest physiological follow-up in the literature, and provides data on the natural history of pulmonary involvement in NPD.

A family with visceral course of Niemann-Pick disease, macular halo syndrome and low sphingomyelin degradation rate

We report a family with six patients suffering from a sphingomyelinase-deficient form of Niemann-Pick disease, all presenting with a visceral course of the disease. Retinal changes classified as macular halos in four members indicated neuronal storage and therefore an intermediate type of the disease. For further classification of the biochemical type, [choline-methyl-14C]sphingomyelin degradation studies were carried out in fibroblast cultures of all six members. The low degradation rates measured were similar to those usually found in the neuronopathic form (type A) of Niemann-Pick disease. This family illustrates the broad heterogeneity within the sphingomyelinase deficiency group of the Niemann-Pick disease. Apparently the finding of a low sphingomyelin degradation rate in fibroblast cultures does not necessarily imply a typical serious and lethal course of the disease.

Very low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol in four sibs of a family with non-neuropathic Niemann-Pick disease and sea-blue histiocytosis

Very low serum levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol ranging from 8.6 to 13.9 mg/dl were detected in four out of 12 sibs of a Brazilian kindred with the non-neuropathic form of Niemann-Pick disease. Hepatosplenomegaly, interstitial infiltration of the lungs, absence of neurological signs, sea-blue histiocytes in the bone marrow and liver, and high values for serum acid phosphatase (18 to 32 U/l) were common to all affected children. Leucocyte acid sphingomyelinase activity ranged from 3.6 to 6.5% of mean control values, and fibroblast activity from 9 to 13% of mean controls. The parents had low-normal levels. The relationship between these findings is unclear and deserves further investigation.

Niemann-Pick disease

Results of the investigation carried out during this decade brought unambigous evidence of biochemical heterogeneity inside the complex of Niemann-Pick disease according to which two entirely different metabolic disorders can be recognized. 1. Niemann-Pick sphingomyelinosis, a clear-cut enzymopathy, the pivotal lesion of which is the deficiency of lysosomal spingomyelinase leading to widespread lysosomal deposition of sphingomyelin liquid crystals. Two main allelic variants are known. The first one, neuronopathic (former type A) known as infantile with rapid course, may also manifest considerably prolonged course or an atypical course with predominantly visceral symptomatology. Patients with the second, visceral, variant (former type B), display mainly slow clinical course and often reach adulthood. With rare exceptions the neuronopathic variant can be biochemically recognized from the visceral one by much lower values of the in vivo sphingomyelin degradation test in the former. 2. The rest of the complex comprising types C-D differs substantially from the sphingomyelinase deficiency group by the remarkable heterogeneity in the lysosomal stored lipid pattern given by differences among the affected cell populations. Sphingomyelin storage could be proved histochemically solely in the histiocytic population together with cholesterol, neutral glycosphingolipids and lysobisphosphatidic acid, whereas the brain neurons displayed only neutral glycosphingolipid storage. There is an increasing evidence of the crucial biochemical lesion in this group being an altered intracellular traffic of exogenously derived cholesterol caused probably by its deficient translocation from lysosomes to other intracellular membrane sites. This leads to decreased cholesterol esterification rate which is the basis of the newly developed diagnostic test. Inconstant depression of sphingomyelinase activity is considered to be a secondary phenomenon. The so-called lactosylceramidosis is a rare variant pertinent to this group. The biochemical nature of type E still awaits clarification. Both groups of Niemann-Pick disease display clinical and especially histochemical features which allows to establish diagnosis in a highly efficient way already at the clinicopathological level.

Late Niemann-Pick disease with neurovisceral storage: a classification problem

A 51 year old man presented in 1969 with slowly progressive cerebellar ataxia of unknown origin. He was admitted to hospital aged 68 after a fall, and a ruptured spleen was removed at laparotomy. Histological analysis of the spleen suggested Niemann-Pick disease, which was subsequently confirmed. He deteriorated and died of bronchopneumonia shortly afterwards: subdural haemorrhage with storage material in neurones was found at necropsy. This late onset case of Niemann-Pick disease with neurovisceral storage is unusual and may represent a variant.

Evidence of polyglandular involvement in Niemann-Pick disease type B

We report a girl with Niemann-Pick disease type B in whom short stature was recorded over a long period. Association of short stature with the presence of a polyglandular involvement in this patient is discussed.

Niemann-Pick disease type B: clinical signs and follow-up of a new case

A girl affected by Niemann-Pick disease type B is reported. The patient presented unusual skin lesions of nummular eczematous dermatitis, signs of delayed puberty and stunted physical development, together with the typical symptoms involving visceral organs and lungs. This disease may therefore indirectly affect more body organs than assumed.

Adult Niemann-Pick disease masquerading as sea blue histiocyte syndrome: report of a case confirmed by lipid analysis and enzyme assays

We present the clinical, pathologic, and metabolic findings of an adult woman with debilitating coronary artery disease and hepatosplenomegaly who was discovered to have multiorgan infiltration by sea blue histiocytes. A diagnosis of sea blue histiocyte (SBH) syndrome was made and no further workup performed. The patient suffered from progressive heart failure and sepsis following coronary artery bypass surgery and died 9 months after presentation. Tissues examined at autopsy showed pronounced infiltrates of both granular sea blue histiocytes and foamy, vacuolated histiocytes, which were morphologically compatible with Niemann-Pick cells. Ultrastructural examination of these cells revealed lamellar myelin-like figures as described in Niemann-Pick (N-P) disease. Fibroblast enzyme assay studies and liver lipid analyses performed after the patient's death revealed pronounced sphingomyelinase deficiency and a lipid profile diagnostic of N-P disease, type B. This case adds further support to the claim that some cases of apparent SBH syndrome actually represent a type of N-P disease.

Cholesterol ester storage disease in an adult presenting with sea-blue histiocytosis

An adult patient is described with hepatomegaly and sea-blue histiocytes in the bone marrow. A diagnosis of cholesterol ester storage disease was established following enzyme and lipid analyses on liver biopsy and cultured skin fibroblasts. Acid esterase activity was deficient (approx. 5% of controls) in liver and fibroblasts using [14C]-triolein or 4-methylumbelliferyl palmitate as substrates. Cholesterol ester levels were raised about 70-fold in liver, whereas triglyceride levels were only marginally raised. Marked accumulation of cholesterol esters was also demonstrated in cultured fibroblasts. Clinically, the patient responded favourably to phenobarbitone treatment. However, this was not reflected in liver acid esterase or lipid levels.

A progressive neurologic disorder with supranuclear vertical gaze paresis and distinctive bone marrow cells

Nine patients with a progressive neurologic disorder that was characterized by mental deterioration, supranuclear vertical gaze paresis, and foam cells or sea-blue histiocytes in the bone marrow are described and compared with patients who were previously described as having " neurovisceral storage disease with vertical supranuclear ophthalmoplegia" and "dystonic lipidosis." The clinical manifestations of our patients and those described by others and the pathologic findings and profiles of lipid analysis reported by others are similar to those in patients with Niemann-Pick disease, type C. Sphingomyelinase activities in leukocytes and skin fibroblasts were normal in our patients and in more than half of the reported cases; these findings are also compatible with those in patients with Niemann-Pick disease, type C. Until the biochemical and genetic abnormalities of Niemann-Pick disease, type C are clearly defined, it is justifiable to classify the disorder under discussion as a subgroup of Niemann-Pick disease, type C because it seems to be a heterogeneous group. From the clinical point of view, the diagnosis is difficult to establish in the absence of abnormalities in the bone marrow in patients who are older than 20 years; repeat examinations of the bone marrow are necessary in such patients. Clinicians should be aware of this disorder not only in patients in the first and second decades of life, when this disorder usually becomes symptomatic, but also in patients in the fourth and fifth decades.

Adult Niemann-Pick disease with sea-blue histiocytes in the spleen

Two cases of adult chronic non-neuronopathic Niemann-Pick disease (type B) are reported. In both, unexplained splenomegaly was present, and one had signs of splenic rupture. In both cases, histologic examination revealed collections of foamy histiocytes in the spleen, which stained sea-blue with Giemsa and gave the histochemical reactions of ceroid. Ultrastructurally, the histiocytes were filled with lysosomes containing myelin figures, some of which had the characteristic fingerprint pattern. The diagnosis was confirmed biochemically by measurements of tissue sphingomyelin and liver lysosomal sphingomyelinase. In adult Niemann-Pick disease, both the characteristic staining reactions and the elevation of tissue sphingomyelin may be demonstrated in formalin-fixed material. Enzyme studies, however, require fresh leukocytes or biopsy tissue.

Somatic cell hybridisation studies showing different gene mutations in Niemann-Pick variants

Cultured skin fibroblasts from patients with different clinical types of Niemann-Pick disease were hybridized and sphingomyelinase activities were measured in the heterokaryon cell population. Both the natural substrate (3H-choline) sphingomyelin and the chromogenic analogue hexadecanoylamino-4-nitrophenylphosphorylcholine were used in the complementation analysis. In fusions between cells from type C Niemann-Pick disease with those from type A or B a clear restoration of sphingomyelinase activity occurred, whereas no complementation was found in other fusion combinations. The results indicate that at least two different genes are involved in the mutations leading to the different Niemann-Pick variants.