Clinical manifestation for immunoglobulin A deficiency: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Immunoglobulin A deficiency (IgAD) is a common disease with an unknown genetic defect, characterized by the decreased or absent IgA with other isotypes normal, normal subclasses, and specific antibodies. Patients with this disorder represent a spectrum of clinical manifestations including infections, autoimmune disorders, malignancy, and allergic diseases. The current study aimed to evaluate their prevalence and categorized them. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases to find eligible studies from the earliest available date to January 2022 with standard keywords. Pooled estimates of clinical manifestations prevalence and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals were calculated using random-effects models. RESULTS: The most prevalent clinical manifestations belonged to infection (64.8%) followed by allergic diseases (26.16%) and autoimmunity (22.0%), respectively. In selective IgA deficiency patients as the largest group of IgAD in current study, celiac disease (6.57%), Inflammatory bowel disease (4.01%), and rheumatoid arthritis (3.80%) were the most prevalent autoimmunity. Meanwhile, the most frequent infection was respiratory tract infection, fungal infection, and gastrointestinal infection at 50.74%, 18.48%, and 15.79%, respectively. In addition, the pooled prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and allergic conjunctivitis were 19.06%, 15.46%, and 11.68%, respectively which were reported as the most widespread allergic diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that apart from undiagnosed IgAD patients, IgAD patients represent a wide range of clinical manifestations. Infection, allergy, and autoimmunity are the most common clinical manifestations. The concurrent presence of IgA and IgG subtypes deficiency could be associated with increased susceptibility to infection. Considering the probability of developing new clinical complications during follow-up, periodic assessments of IgAD patients should be inspected.

Autoimmunity in monogenic combined immune deficiencies with associated or syndromic features.

Background: Combined immune deficiencies (CIDs) with associated or syndromic features are a highly heterogeneous subgroup of inherited immune disorders. These patients represent specific clinical complications with an increased risk of autoimmune conditions. Methods: We analyzed data of monogenic patients with syndromic CIDs adopted from the Iranian inborn errors of immunity registry up to January 2022. A comprehensive comparison in terms of demographic, clinical, and immunological features was performed between patients with and without autoimmunity and also among four mutation groups with the most registered cases including ATM, STAT3 (AD-LOF), DNMT3B/ZBTB24, and WAS mutations. Results: A total of 137 patients with monogenic syndromic CIDs were included. Most commonly mutated genes were the ATM [80 (58.4%)] and STAT3 (AD-LOF) [19 (13.9%)], followed by DNMT3B [11 (8%)], and WAS [11 (8%)]. More than 18% of all patients with syndromic CIDs, including most DNMT3B/ZBTB24 mutations patients, were clinically diagnosed with antibody deficiencies before genetic evaluation. Patients with ATM and WAS mutations had the latest age of onset and the lowest age of diagnosis, respectively. Autoimmune disorders were diagnosed in 24 patients at a median age of 3.5 (2.6-6.0) years, 70.6% of which were diagnosed prior to the diagnosis of immunodeficiency. Lymphoproliferation, particularly hepatosplenomegaly, was significantly higher in patients with autoimmunity (p=0.004). Syndromic CID patients with autoimmunity had significantly lower IgG levels. Hematologic autoimmunity mainly immune thrombocytopenic purpura was the most frequent autoimmunity among major groups of ATM, STAT3 (AD-LOF), DNMT3B/ZBTB24, and WAS mutations, however ATM-mutated patients present more diversified involved organs including rheumatologic, gastrointestinal and dermatologic autoimmunity. Conclusion: About 18% of patients with monogenic syndromic CIDs developed autoimmunity, mainly in the form of hematological immune diseases. Autoimmunity could be an early-onset involvement with a potential diagnostic impact on suspicious cases of syndromic CIDs.

Transient increased immunoglobulin levels in a hyper-IgM syndrome patient with COVID-19 infection.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected millions of people around the world. This zoonotic-enveloped virus is primarily transmitted through inhalation. Infected people are commonly asymptomatic or manifest mild symptoms, including fever, cough, diarrhea, and fatigue. However, it may lead to severe patterns associated with multiple organ failure in individuals with an impaired immune system. OBJECTIVE: Here we report a 7-year-old girl with hyper-immunoglobulin M (IgM) (HIgM) phenotype, admitted to the hospital emergency department with fever, cough, and pneumonia symptoms because of the COVID-19 infection. Coronavirus infection was confirmed by a positive real-time polymerase chain reaction test. Surprisingly, serum levels of both IgG and IgA of the patient were transiently normalized during the COVID-19 infection when tested prior to the monthly injection of intravenous immunoglobulin. After she recovered from the COVID infection, her immunoglobulin levels returned to the primary stage and she demonstrated HIgM phenotype. CONCLUSION: Since this transient increase in the levels of immunoglobulins was solely observed during the COVID-19 infection, and no other infectious episodes were diagnosed in the patient, clarifying the exact cause would help to understand in a better manner the implications and specification of humoral immunity in patients with primary antibody deficiencies.

Transient increased immunoglobulin levels in a hyper-IgM syndrome patient with COVID-19 infection

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected millions of people around the world. This zoonotic-enveloped virus is primarily transmitted through inhalation. Infected people are commonly asymptomatic or manifest mild symptoms, including fever, cough, diarrhea, and fatigue. However, it may lead to severe patterns associated with multiple organ failure in individuals with an impaired immune system. Objective Here we report a 7-year-old girl with hyper-immunoglobulin M (IgM) (HIgM) phenotype, admitted to the hospital emergency department with fever, cough, and pneumonia symptoms because of the COVID-19 infection. Coronavirus infection was confirmed by a positive real-time polymerase chain reaction test. Surprisingly, serum levels of both IgG and IgA of the patient were transiently normalized during the COVID-19 infection when tested prior to the monthly injection of intravenous immunoglobulin. After she recovered from the COVID infection, her immunoglobulin levels returned to the primary stage and she demonstrated HIgM phenotype. Conclusion Since this transient increase in the levels of immunoglobulins was solely observed during the COVID-19 infection, and no other infectious episodes were diagnosed in the patient, clarifying the exact cause would help to understand in a better manner the implications and specification of humoral immunity in patients with primary antibody deficiencies (AU)

The First Case Report of Kabuki Syndrome from the National Iranian Registry of Primary Immunodeficiencies.

Kabuki syndrome is a rare congenital anomaly/mental retardation syndrome characterized by intellectual disability, developmental delay, short stature, facial dysmorphic features including ectropion of the lateral third of the lower eyelids, long palpebral fissures, and prominent finger pads. Pathogenic variants of KMT2D (MLL2) and KDM6A are found to be the major causes of Kabuki syndrome. Here, we report the first Iranian case with Kabuki syndrome with an IQ of 79, two episodes of viral pneumonia and distinctive facial features, prominent ears, and persistent fetal fingertip pads. These characteristics raised our suspicion of performing whole-exome sequencing (WES), which revealed 2 heterozygous pathogenic missense variants in the KMT2D gene: c.C10024T in exon 34, leading to p.R3342C and c.G15005A in exon 48, leading to p.R5002Q. Hence, the definitive diagnosis of Kabuki syndrome was made based on molecular findings along with the intellectual disability and characteristic facial features.

Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on Patients with Primary Immunodeficiency.

Although it is estimated that COVID-19 life-threatening conditions may be diagnosed in less than 1:1000 infected individuals below the age of 50, but the real impact of this pandemic on pediatric patients with different types of primary immunodeficiency (PID) is not elucidated. The current prospective study on a national registry of PID patients showed that with only 1.23 folds higher incidence of infections, these patients present a 10-folds higher mortality rate compared to population mainly in patients with combined immunodeficiency and immune dysregulation. Therefore, further management modalities against COVID-19 should be considered to improve the survival rate in these two PID entities using hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and immunomodulatory agents.