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Staines-Boone AT, Vignesh P, Tsumura M, de la Garza Fernández G, Tyagi R, Rawat A, Das J, Tomomasa D, Asano T, Hijikata A, Salazar-Gálvez Y, Kanegane H, Okada S, Reyes SOL. Fatal COVID-19 Infection in Two Children with STAT1 Gain-of-Function. J Clin Immunol 2023; 44:20. [PMID: 38129739 DOI: 10.1007/s10875-023-01634-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
While SARS-CoV-2 infection causes a mild disease in most children, SARS-CoV-2 infection may be lethal in a few of them. In the defense against SARS-CoV-2, type I interferons are key players, and several studies have identified a defective or neutralized interferon response as the cause of overwhelming viral infection. However, inappropriate, untimely, or excessive interferon production may also be detrimental to the host. Here, we describe two patients with STAT1 gain-of-function (GOF), a known type I interferonopathy, who died of COVID-19. Whole-exome sequencing and interferon-gamma-activated sequence (GAS) and interferon-sensitive responsive element (ISRE) reporter assay were performed to identify and characterize STAT1 variants. Patient 1 developed hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) in the context of COVID-19 infection and died in less than a week at the age of 4 years. Patient 2 developed a high fever, cough, and hypoxemia and succumbed to COVID-19 pneumonia at the age of 5 years. Two heterozygous missense variants, p.E563Q and p.K344E, in STAT1 were identified. Functional validation by reporter assay and immunoblot confirmed that both variants are gain-of-function (GOF). GOF variants transiently expressing cells exhibited enhanced upregulation of downstream genes, including ISG15, MX1, and OAS1, in response to IFN-α stimulation. A catastrophic course with HLH or acute respiratory failure is thought to be associated with inappropriate immunoregulatory mechanisms to handle SARS-CoV-2 in STAT1 GOF. While most patients with inborn errors of immunity who developed COVID-19 seem to handle it well, these cases suggest that patients with STAT1-GOF might be at risk of developing fatal complications due to SARS-CoV-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aidé Tamara Staines-Boone
- Immunology Service at Hospital de Especialidades UMAE 25 Mexican Social Security, Institute (IMSS), Monterrey, Mexico
| | - Pandiarajan Vignesh
- Department of Pediatrics, Advanced Pediatrics Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, 160012, India.
| | - Miyuki Tsumura
- Department of Pediatrics, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Science, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Germán de la Garza Fernández
- Immune Deficiencies Laboratory at the National Institute of Pediatrics, Health Secretariat, Av Iman 1, Piso 9 Torre de Investigación, Col. Insurgentes Cuicuilco, Coyoacán, 04530, Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico
| | - Reva Tyagi
- Department of Pediatrics, Advanced Pediatrics Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, 160012, India
| | - Amit Rawat
- Department of Pediatrics, Advanced Pediatrics Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, 160012, India
| | - Jhumki Das
- Department of Pediatrics, Advanced Pediatrics Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, 160012, India
| | - Dan Tomomasa
- Department of Pediatrics and Developmental Biology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takaki Asano
- Department of Pediatrics, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Science, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Atsushi Hijikata
- School of Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yuridia Salazar-Gálvez
- Immunology Service at Hospital de Especialidades UMAE 25 Mexican Social Security, Institute (IMSS), Monterrey, Mexico
| | - Hirokazu Kanegane
- Department of Child Health and Development, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), Tokyo, Japan
| | - Satoshi Okada
- Department of Pediatrics, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Science, Hiroshima, Japan.
| | - Saul O Lugo Reyes
- Immune Deficiencies Laboratory at the National Institute of Pediatrics, Health Secretariat, Av Iman 1, Piso 9 Torre de Investigación, Col. Insurgentes Cuicuilco, Coyoacán, 04530, Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico.
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