ABSTRACT
Patients with Mendelian Susceptibility to Mycobacterial Diseases (MSMD) exhibit variable vulnerability to infections by mycobacteria and other intramacrophagic bacteria (e.g., Salmonella and Klebsiella) and fungi (e.g., Histoplasma, Candida, Paracoccidioides, Coccidioides, and Cryptococcus). The hallmark of MSMD is the inherited impaired production of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) or the lack of response to it. Mutations in the interleukin (IL)-12 receptor subunit beta 1 (IL12RB1) gene accounts for 38% of cases of MSMD. Most IL12RB1 pathogenic allele mutations, including ten known stop-gain variants, cause IL-12Rß1 complete deficiency (immunodeficiency-30, IMD30) by knocking out receptor cell-surface expression. IL12RB1 loss-of-function genotypes impair both IL-12 and IL-23 responses. Here, we assess the health effects of a rare, novel IL12RB1 stop-gain homozygous genotype with paradoxical IL-12Rß1 cell-surface expression. We appraise four MSMD children from three unrelated Brazilian kindreds by clinical consultation, medical records, and genetic and immunologic studies. The clinical spectrum narrowed down to Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine-related suppurative adenitis in all patients with one death, and recrudescence in two, histoplasmosis, and recurrence in one patient, extraintestinal salmonellosis in one child, and cutaneous vasculitis in another. In three patients, we established the homozygous Trp7Ter predicted loss-of-function inherited genotype and inferred it from the heterozygote parents of the fourth case. The Trp7Ter mutation maps to the predicted IL-12Rß1 N-terminal signal peptide sequence. BCG- or phytohemagglutinin-blasts from the three patients have reduced cell-surface expression of IL-12Rß1 with impaired production of IFN-γ and IL-17A. Screening of 227 unrelated healthy subjects from the same geographic region revealed one heterozygous genotype (allele frequency 0.0022) vs. one in over 841,883 public genome/exomes. We also show that the carriers bear European ancestry-informative alleles and share the extended CACCAGTCCGG IL12RB1 haplotype that occurs worldwide with a frequency of 8.4%. We conclude that the novel IL12RB1 N-terminal signal peptide stop-gain loss-of-function homozygous genotype confers IL-12Rß1 deficiency with varying severity and early-onset age through diminished cell-surface expression of an impaired IL-12Rß1 polypeptide. We firmly recommend attending to warning signs of IMD30 in children who are HIV-1 negative with a history of adverse effects to the BCG vaccine and presenting with recurrent Histoplasma spp. and extraintestinal Salmonella spp. infections.
ABSTRACT
BCG disease has been reported in primary and secondary immunodeficiency and as Mendelian Susceptibility to Mycobacterial Diseases (MSMD). Investigation of this syndrome has led to the identifications of a series of genetic, inherited defects in the IL-12/IFN-γ axis. MSMD-causing mutations have been found in seven autosomal and two X-linked genes. In these patients, local or disseminated vaccine BCG infections are common. We report a clinical series including two infants with left axillary adenitis ipsilateral to the site of neonatal BCG immunization; one of them member of a family with two previously reported cases and a single sporadic case. All of them were diagnosed sequentially in Puerto Montt, Chile. The aim of this report is to notify the first Chilean disseminated BCG patients without previous immunodeficiency, in whom it was possible to identify an underlying immunodeficiency, although specific tests for IL-12/IFN-γ axis was no performed in our country. Clinical suspicion and international collaboration permitted to confirm IL12-Rβ1 deficiency in 2 of 3 familial cases and a sporadic case.
La enfermedad por el bacilo de Calmette-Guérin (BCG) ha sido reportada en relación a inmunodeficiencias primarias, secundarias y en el síndrome clínico denominado susceptibilidad mendeliana a enfermedades micobacterianas. La investigación de este síndrome ha llevado a la identificación de defectos en el eje interleuquina (IL)- 12/ interferón gamma (IL-12/IFN-γ), habiéndose identificado hasta hoy mutaciones en siete genes autosómicos y dos ligados al cromosoma X. En estos pacientes, las infecciones localizadas o generalizadas por BCG vacunal son comunes. Reportamos una serie clínica constituida por dos lactantes con adenomegalia axilar izquierda recurrente secundaria a vacunación BCG al nacer; uno de ellos integrante de una familia con dos casos reportados previamente y un caso aislado, diagnosticados consecutivamente en Puerto Montt, Chile, con el objetivo de notificar los primeros casos chilenos de diseminación BCG en niños sin inmunodeficiencia previa conocida, en los que se logró identificar la deficiencia inmune subyacente pese a no disponer en el país del estudio específico del eje (IL-12/IFN-γ). La sospecha diagnóstica y colaboración internacional permitieron identificar en dos de los tres casos familiares y en el caso aislado, la deficiencia del receptor β1 de IL 12 (IL12Rβ1).