Investigating Concomitant RAG-2 and LRBA Mutations in SCID and Autoimmunity.

ABSTRACT

Inborn errors of immunity (IEI) are a large heterogenous group of diseases characterized by immunodeficiency, immune dysregulation, allergy, auto-inflammation and predisposition for malignancies. Most are inherited in an autosomal recessive trait. We studied a patient with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and immune dysregulation who harbored two distinct bi-allelic IEI-associated genetic mutations. Clinical, immunological and genetic data were collected. Genetic investigation included whole exome sequencing on DNA extracted from skin fibroblasts. Family segregation was performed by Sanger sequencing. Immunological evaluation included absolute and functional evaluation of lymphocytes and chimerism analysis post hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Treg subsets, LRBA and CTLA4 expression levels were measured by flow-cytometric analysis. A nineteen-year-old female patient from a consanguine background underwent unconditioned matched sibling related HSCT during infancy due to clinical presentation of SCID with an Omenn phenotype. At that time her underlying genetic defect was not defined. Years after HSCT, severe auto-immune phenomena were noted, including a systemic lupus erythematosus-like syndrome and ophthalmic manifestations. Genetic evaluation revealed bi-allelic homozygous mutations in RAG-2 (c.685C>T, p.Arg229Trp) and a previously undescribed mutation in LRBA (c.3325G>T, p.Asp1109Tyr). LRBA and CTLA4 expression levels were normal, suggesting that the LRBA variant identified in these kindred is unlikely to be pathogenic. Multiple genetic defects causing complex IEIs may be identified in the same individual in highly consanguineous populations. Functional immunological testing is essential for evaluation of novel genetic variants.