The association of serum IgM and IgG levels with the number of X chromosomes in patients with abnormal number of X chromosomes

Haemolytic anaemia after childhood Escherichia coli O 157 .H7 infection: are females at increased risk?

We conducted a 4-year retrospective cohort study to better define the risk of haemolytic anaemia and haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) in children following sporadic gastrointestinal infection with the O 157.H7 serotype of Escherichia coli. Of the 72 children infected with this organism, 9 (12.5%) developed haemolytic anaemia, 6 of whom had HUS. No child in a cohort of 72 age-matched controls with Campylobacter jejuni gastroenteritis developed haemolytic anaemia (P = 0.003). Females had a significantly greater risk of developing haemolytic anaemia after E. coli O 157. H7 infection than did males (8/29 females v. 1/43 males; P = 0.003). In a logistic regression model, female gender emerged as the only statistically significant risk factor for haemolytic anaemia (odds ratio 3.85; 95% confidence interval 1.24-12). These results are consistent with recent reports of a moderate increase in the risk of HUS for females.

Partial Xq25 deletion in a family with the X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP)

X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP) results in exquisite vulnerability to EBV infection: fatal infectious mononucleosis (IM), acquired hypogammaglobulinemia and/or malignant lymphoma occur invariably following infection with the virus. We have identified the XLP locus using the DXS42 DNA probe having restriction length polymorphisms (RFLP). We report an interstitial deletion involving a portion of the Xq25 region in the X chromosome of an affected male, one sister, and their mother. Concordance has been established between the presence of a deletion and RFLP linkage analysis with the DXS42 probe in the kindred. This finding will contribute substantially to the mapping, cloning, and sequencing of the gene responsible for XLP.

X-ring Turner's syndrome with combined immunodeficiency and selective gonadotropin defect

A rare association of chromosomal, immunological and endocrine defects is described in a young woman with short stature, recurrent pulmonary infections and primary amenorrhea. Cytogenetic studies showed a 45, X karyotype in 65% of peripheral blood lymphocytes and 46,Xr(X) (p22q27) karyotype in the remaining 35%. Severe immunodeficiency was revealed by phenotypical and functional studies and a selective gonadotropin defect was disclosed by endocrinological investigations. An attempt is made to explain the coexistence of the three abnormal pictures.