Successful immune reconstitution in severe combined immunodeficiency despite Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus infections

Immune reconstitution of acquired immune deficiency syndrome

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic infectious disease, which the patients are infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV damages the human's immune function and causes CD4 cell decline in the number and function. Immune reconstitution is an important treatment to AIDS. Bone marrow transplantation, adoptive immune cell therapy and cytokines infusion can all assist the immune reconstitution; highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can effectively control the virus replication and benefit the immune reconstitution. HAART combined with immunotherapy is an important method of immune reconstitution in AIDS patients. Chinese medicine is playing a more and more important role in immune reconstitution. Immune reconstitution has always been effective in the whole treatment of AIDS.

Human severe combined immunodeficiency: genetic, phenotypic, and functional diversity in one hundred eight infants

OBJECTIVE

To determine the relative frequencies of the different genetic forms of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and whether there are distinctive characteristics of the particular genotypes.

STUDY DESIGN

The demographic, genetic, and immunologic features of 108 infants with SCID who were treated consecutively at Duke University Medical Center were analyzed.

RESULTS

Eighty-nine subjects were boys and 19 were girls; there were 84 white infants, 16 black infants, and 8 Hispanic infants. Forty-nine had X-linked SCID with mutations of common cytokine receptor gamma chain (gamma c), 16 had adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency, 8 had Janus kinase 3 (Jak3) deficiency, 21 had unknown autosomal recessive mutations, 1 had reticular dysgenesis, 1 had cartilage hair hypoplasia, and 12 (all boys) had SCID of undetermined type. Deficiency of ADA caused the most profound lymphopenia; gamma c or Jak3 deficiency resulted in the most B cells and fewest natural killer (NK) cells; NK cells and function were highest in autosomal recessive and unknown types of SCID.

CONCLUSIONS

Different SCID genotypes are associated with distinctive lymphocyte characteristics. The presence of NK function in ADA-deficient, autosomal recessive, and unknown type SCIDs, and low NK function in a majority of gamma c and Jak3 SCIDs indicates that some molecular lesions affect T, B, and NK cells (gamma c and Jak3), others primarily T cells (ADA deficiency), and others just T and B cells.

Pathology of the pancreas in severe combined immunodeficiency and DiGeorge syndrome: acute graft-versus-host disease and unusual viral infections

Review of autopsies of 28 children with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) or combined immunodeficiency (CID) and three with DiGeorge syndrome showed a high incidence of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in the pancreas. Acute GVHD (seven cases: four SCID, two CID, and one DiGeorge syndrome) was characterized by lymphocytes around large to medium ducts, damage to ductal epithelium (focal necrosis, reactive nuclear changes, inspissated secretions in duct lumens), and periductal edema. Changes were judged indeterminate but suspicious for GVHD when ductal damage was slight (six cases: three SCID, two CID, and one DiGeorge syndrome). All patients with pancreatic GVHD had received allogeneic bone marrow, fetal liver or thymus transplant, or nonirradiated blood products and had evidence of GVHD in other organs. Immunoperoxidase stain for HLA-DR showed strong-to-moderate staining of duct epithelium in two of four GVHD cases for which blocks were available. This change was nonspecific; weaker staining for HLA-DR was seen in cases with nonspecific abnormalities and in viral pancreatitis. Four cases had histological evidence of viral infection: two had cytomegalovirus pancreatitis, one had patchy parenchymal necrosis caused by adenovirus, and one had giant cell pancreatitis caused by parainfluenza virus. Mild nonspecific changes, such as focal fat necrosis or acinar dilatation, were seen in seven cases. One case had unexplained marked pancreatic atrophy and fibrosis. Acute pancreatic GVHD is not uncommon in autopsies of children with congenital immune deficiencies with GVHD of other organs; however, this finding may not have strong clinical implications in this group of patients. Careful attention to pancreatic ducts is necessary for diagnosis. Unusual viral pancreatitis may also be seen in this group, as well as nonspecific abnormalities.

Pathology of the liver in severe combined immunodeficiency and DiGeorge syndrome

Review of liver biopsy or autopsy material from 33 patients with severe combined immunodeficiency or combined immunodeficiency and four patients with DiGeorge syndrome revealed a wide range of hepatic pathology. The most common abnormality was graft-versus-host disease (16 patients), followed by viral infection (4 patients had adenovirus hepatitis, 3 had cytomegalovirus hepatitis). Centrilobular fibrosis with or without veno-occlusive disease was seen in five patients. Three patients had nonspecific hepatitis, four had changes attributed to total parenteral nutrition, and two had lymphoproliferative disorders involving the liver. Both patients with lymphoproliferative disorders had received transplants. Two patients had resolving necrosis probably secondary to non-A, non-B hepatitis. One had atypical mycobacterial infection. Hemosiderosis was a common nonspecific abnormality, seen in nine patients. All patients with hepatic graft-versus-host disease had received transplants or nonirradiated blood products. Hepatic graft-versus-host disease varied in severity from hepatic necrosis with destruction of both large and small bile ducts in a transfusion-associated case to subtle damage to interlobular bile ducts. Even minimal bile duct changes correlated with the clinical impression of graft-versus-host disease in these patients. Late chronic graft-versus-host disease was not seen in any patient, although acute graft-versus-host disease sometimes occurred late after transplant.

Appearance of multiple benign paraproteins during early engraftment of soy lectin T cell-depleted haploidentical bone marrow cells in severe combined immunodeficiency

Recent advances in the prevention of graft-versus-host disease through postthymic T-cell depletion have allowed the use of haploidentical bone marrow cells for immunologic reconstitution of severe combined immunodeficiency disease. We report a male infant with severe combined immunodeficiency (with normal adenosine deaminase) who developed two IgG kappa and one IgA lambda paraproteins 7 weeks following the administration of 1.4 X 10(9) maternal bone marrow cells depleted of postthymic T cells by soy lectin agglutination and sheep erythrocyte rosetting. Serum IgG rose from 128 to 820 mg/dl, and IgA from 0 to 2400 mg/dl, peaking at 10 weeks postgrafting. By 14 weeks posttransplantation T-cell numbers and function had risen to normal (all dividing T cells had the donor karyotype) and paraprotein concentrations began to decline. These observations strongly suggest that the later-appearing T cells regulated the B-cell clones from which the paraproteins were derived. Failure of such function to appear could account for the increased incidence of B-cell lymphomas in severe combined immunodeficiency.