Megacystis Microcolon Intestinal Hypoperistalsis Syndrome: A Case Series With Long-term Follow-up and Prolonged Survival.

OBJECTIVES: Describe clinical characteristics, management, and outcome in a cohort of megacystis microcolon intestinal hypoperistalsis syndrome (MMIHS) patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of MMIHS patients followed at a large transplant and intestinal rehabilitation center over a period of 17 years. RESULTS: We identified 25 patients with MMIHS (68% girls, 13 transplanted). One transplanted and 1 nontransplanted patient were lost to follow-up. We estimated 100, 100, and 86% for 5-, 10-, and 20-year survival, respectively, with only 1 death. Of the 22 patients alive at the time of study (11 transplanted, 11 nontransplanted), median age was 9.2 years (range 2.7-22.9 years). Longest posttransplant follow-up was 16 years. Seventeen patients had available prenatal imaging reports; all showed distended bladder. Eight had genetic testing (5, ACTG2; 2, MYH11; 1, MYL9). Almost all patients had normal growth with median weight z-score -0.77 (interquartile range -1.39 to 0.26), height z score -1.2 (-2.04 to -0.48) and body mass index z-score 0.23 (-0.37 to 0.93) with no statistical difference between transplanted and nontransplanted patients. All nontransplanted patients were on parenteral nutrition with minimal/no feeds, and all except 1 of the transplanted patients were on full enteral feeds. Recent average bilirubin, INR, albumin, and creatinine fell within the reference ranges. CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest single-center case series with the longest duration of follow-up for MMIHS patients. In the current era of improved intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation, MMIHS patients have excellent outcomes in survival, growth, and liver function. This observation contradicts previous reports and should alter counselling and management decisions in these patients at diagnosis.

The Spectrum of Sarcina Colonization in the Gastrointestinal Tract of Pediatric and Adolescent Patients.

Introduction. Sarcina organisms are rare, gram-positive, sugar-fermenting cocci, identifiable in tissues only by histologic examination or molecular testing. Since its discovery, the pathogenicity and relevance of Sarcina in the human gastrointestinal tract has remained ill-defined. A recent literature review of 66 reported examples demonstrated the potential for severe complications such as emphysematous gastritis and gastric perforation. In pediatrics, colonization is associated with mucosal alterations and/or gastrointestinal dysmotility/obstruction with variable outcomes, including death secondary to gastric perforation. Yet, the features of Sarcina colonization within the gastrointestinal tract of adolescents are poorly understood and rarely reported. Methods. We present the gastrointestinal histopathological findings and the complete history of 4 pediatric patients with Sarcina colonization at our institution. Additionally a literature review with focus in the keywords "Sarcina" and "gastrointestinal' was performed, and the clinical and histopathological features of all previously reported examples of Sarcina in the gastrointestinal tract of pediatric patients were summarized. Results. All 4 patients had delayed gastric emptying, 3 of them due to neurologic disease, and one with pyloric obstruction due to duodenal ulceration with Helicobacter gastritis. In the 3 patients with available esophageal biopsies, it was associated to esophagitis with increased intraepithelial eosinophils. Conclusion. The potential pathogenicity of Sarcina colonization in the gastrointestinal tract of pediatric patients needs to be reevaluated. Due to potential serious complications, the identification of these organisms in the gastrointestinal tract sample should be reported and warrants further evaluation for possible gastrointestinal dysmotility or other mucosal alterations.

Increased expression of peripheral blood leukocyte genes implicate CD14+ tissue macrophages in cellular intestine allograft rejection.

Recurrent rejection shortens graft survival after intestinal transplantation (ITx) in children, most of whom also experience early acute cellular rejection (rejectors). To elucidate mechanisms common to early and recurrent rejection, we used a test cohort of 20 recipients to test the hypothesis that candidate peripheral blood leukocyte genes that trigger rejection episodes would be evident late after ITx during quiescent periods in genome-wide gene expression analysis and would achieve quantitative real-time PCR replication pre-ITx (another quiescent period) and in the early post-ITx period during first rejection episodes. Eight genes were significantly up-regulated among rejectors in the late post-ITx and pre-ITx periods, compared with nonrejectors: TBX21, CCL5, GNLY, SLAMF7, TGFBR3, NKG7, SYNE1, and GK5. Only CCL5 was also up-regulated in the early post-ITx period. Among resting peripheral blood leukocyte subsets in randomly sampled nonrejectors, CD14(+) monocytes expressed the CCL5 protein maximally. Compared with nonrejectors, rejectors demonstrated higher counts of both circulating CCL5(+)CD14(+) monocytes and intragraft CD14(+) monocyte-derived macrophages in immunohistochemistry of postperfusion and early post-ITx biopsies from the test and an independent replication cohort. Donor-specific alloreactivity measured with CD154(+) T-cytotoxic memory cells correlated with the CCL5 gene and intragraft CD14(+) monocyte-derived macrophages at graft reperfusion and early post-ITx. CCL5 gene up-regulation and CD14(+) macrophages likely prime cellular ITx rejection. Infiltration of reperfused intestine allografts with CD14(+) macrophages may predict rejection events.

Current practices in lipid emulsion utilization in the prevention and treatment of intestinal failure-associated liver disease: A survey of pediatric intestinal rehabilitation and transplant centers.

BACKGROUND: Newer intravenous lipid emulsions (ILEs), such as fish oil-based intravenous lipid emulsions (FO-ILEs) and soybean oil, medium-chain triglycerides, olive oil, and fish oil-based intravenous lipid emulsions (SMOF-ILEs), provide alternatives to soybean oil-based intravenous lipid emulsions (SO-ILEs). We explored current ILE practice patterns among intestinal rehabilitation and transplant centers. METHODS: A survey was developed addressing ILE availability, ILE preference in clinical scenarios, and factors influencing ILE choice. This survey was reviewed locally and by the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition Intestinal Rehabilitation Special Interest Group, the Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Association scientific committee, and the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition pediatric intestinal failure section research committee. We recruited providers nationally and internationally from centers with and without intestinal transplant programs. RESULTS: We included 34 complete responses, 29 from the United States. Sixteen centers performed intestinal transplants. All centers had access to SMOF-ILEs, 85% had access to FO-ILEs, and 91% had access to SO-ILEs. In new patients, 85% use SMOF-ILEs as the first choice ILE. In those with new intestinal failure-associated liver disease (IFALD), FO-ILE was preferred to SMOF-ILE (56% vs 38%). In those developing IFALD on SMOF-ILE, 65% switched to FO-ILE, whereas 24% remained on SMOF-ILE. CONCLUSIONS: Centers have routine access to alternative ILEs, and these are quickly replacing SO-ILEs in all circumstances. Future work should focus on how this shift in practice affects outcomes to provide decision support in specific clinical scenarios.

NOD2 gene polymorphism rs2066844 associates with need for combined liver-intestine transplantation in children with short-gut syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: The nucleotide-binding oligomerization protein 2 (NOD2) gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with Crohn's disease were recently associated with severe rejection after small-bowel transplantation (SBTx). The purpose of this study was to re-test this association and explore whether deficient innate immunity suggested by the NOD2 SNPs predisposes to intestine failure requiring isolated SBTx or combined liver-intestine failure requiring combined liver-SBTx (LSBTx). METHODS: Archived DNA from 85 children with primary isolated SBTx or LSBTx was genotyped with Taqman biallelic discrimination assays. To minimize confounding effects of racial differences in minor allele frequencies (MAFs), allelic associations were tested in 60 Caucasian recipients (discovery cohort). Replication was sought in an independent cohort of 39 Caucasian pediatric and adult SBTx patients. RESULTS: MAF for rs2066845 and rs2066847 was similar to that seen in 538 healthy North American Caucasians. In the discovery cohort, MAF for rs2066844 was significantly higher in LSBTx (13.5 vs. 3.6%, P=0.0007, Fisher's exact test), but not in isolated SBTx recipients (2.2 vs. 3.6%, P=NS), when compared with 538 healthy Caucasians. In addition, among LSBTx recipients who received identical immunosuppression, the minor allele of rs2066844 associated with early rejection in linear regression analysis (P=0.028) (all but one of the risk alleles were found in rejectors), decreased survival (P=0.015, log-rank, Kaplan-Meier analysis), and a 20-fold greater hazard of septic death in proportional hazard analysis (P=0.030). Steroid-resistant (severe) rejection and graft loss were associated with isolated SBTx (P=0.036 and 0.082, respectively), but not with NOD2 SNPs. The association between rs2066844 and combined liver-intestine failure requiring LSBTx was significant in the replication cohort (P=0.014), and achieved greater significance in the combined cohort (P=0.00006). CONCLUSIONS: The NOD2 SNP rs2066844 associates with combined liver and intestinal failure in subjects with short-gut syndrome, who require combined liver-intestine transplantation, and secondarily with early rejection and septic deaths.

Update on progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis.

Three distinct forms of familial intrahepatic cholestasis are the result of mutations in the ATP8B1, ABCB11, and ABCB4 genes. The pathophysiologies of the latter 2 of these diseases are well characterized and are the result of abnormalities in canalicular excretion of bile acids and phospholipids, respectively. The molecular pathophysiology of the systemic disease associated with mutations in ATP8B1 remains unclear. In all of these diseases, wide variations in clinical phenotypes have been observed. The variability can be ascribed at least in part to predicted genotype:phenotype correlations. Disease- and genotype-specific prognoses and therapeutic approaches may exist, although much more information needs to be ascertained before clinicians can confidently make decisions based on genetic information.

Mucosal plasma cell barrier disruption during intestine transplant rejection.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal allograft mucosa undergoes repopulation with host immunocytes. However, critical changes within key immunocyte subsets are not known. METHODS: To explain acute cellular rejection after intestine transplantation (ITx) on the basis of altered mucosal immunocytes, rejecting and rejection-free ITx allografts (n=17) were compared with genome-wide expression arrays. Cells identified by cell/lineage-specific genes were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The corresponding phenotype and donor-specific alloreactivity were characterized in peripheral blood. Time-dependent changes in candidate cell(s) were evaluated in biopsies from an independent cohort of 12 children with ITx. RESULTS: Among 107 differentially expressed genes, three B-cell lineage-specific genes, CCR10, STAP1, and IGLL1, were down-regulated during ITx rejection and were selected for and achieved technical quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction replication. Down-regulation of the immunoglobulin (Ig)A+ plasma cell-specific CCR10 gene correlated with decreased mature mucosal CD138+ plasma cell numbers in corresponding biopsy specimens (r=0.761, P=0.006) and inversely correlated with enhanced alloreactivity of CD154+ T-cytotoxic memory cells (r=-0.56, P=0.031), which predict acute cellular rejection with high sensitivity. An independent cohort of serial biopsy specimens from 12 ITx recipients (1) confirmed relative CD138+ plasma cell depletion during rejection (P=0.042) and (2) showed increased IgG+-to-IgA+ cell ratios within 4 hr of reperfusion in rejection-prone allografts (P=0.037) and during ITx rejection (P=0.025), compared with rejection-free allografts. No differences existed late after ITx. Increased peripheral IgG+ CD27+ CD19+ memory B cells (P=0.004) were seen during ITx rejection in archived peripheral blood lymphocyte from test and replication cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: Protracted depletion of the mucosal CD138+ plasma cell barrier and early mucosal infiltration with memory IgG+ cells characterize the rejection-prone intestine allograft. Mucosal IgA+ plasma cell barrier reconstitution may augur resolution of ITx rejection.