1/383. Selective antibody deficiency to bacterial polysaccharide antigens in patients with netherton syndrome. Three patients with netherton syndrome, recurrent sinopulmonary infections, and humoral immune deficiency are described. Although quantitative serum immunoglobulin levels were generally normal, two patients had selective antibody deficiency to bacterial polysaccharide antigens, one associated with IgA-IgG-2 deficiency. A third patient had an antibody deficiency to protein antigens. This is the first report, to our knowledge, that describes antibody deficiency in patients with netherton syndrome. This finding demonstrates the importance of evaluating functional antibody responses to both protein and bacterial polysaccharide antigens and not relying on IgG subclass determination. ( info) |
2/383. Non-pseudogene-derived complex acid beta-glucosidase mutations causing mild type 1 and severe type 2 gaucher disease. gaucher disease is an autosomal recessive inborn error of glycosphingolipid metabolism caused by the deficient activity of the lysosomal hydrolase, acid beta-glucosidase. Three phenotypically distinct subtypes result from different acid beta-glucosidase mutations encoding enzymes with absent or low activity. A severe neonatal type 2 variant who presented with collodion skin, ichthyosis, and a rapid neurodegenerative course had two novel acid beta-glucosidase alleles: a complex, maternally derived allele, E326K L444P, and a paternally inherited nonsense mutation, E233X. Because the only other non-pseudogene-derived complex allele, D140H E326K, also had the E326K lesion and was reported in a mild type 1 patient with a D140H E326K/K157Q genotype, these complex alleles and their individual mutations were expressed and characterized. Because the E233X mutation expressed no activity and the K157Q allele had approximately 1% normal specific activity based on cross-reacting immunologic material (CRIM SA) in the baculovirus system, the residual activity in both patients was primarily from their complex alleles. In the type 1 patient, the D140H E326K allele was neuroprotective, encoding an enzyme with a catalytic efficiency similar to that of the N370S enzyme. In contrast, the E326K L444P allele did not have sufficient activity to protect against the neurologic manifestations and, in combination with the inactive E233X lesion, resulted in the severe neonatal type 2 variant. Thus, characterization of these novel genotypes with non-pseudogene-derived complex mutations provided the pathogenic basis for their diverse phenotypes. ( info) |
3/383. Specific skin lesions occurring in a patient with Hodgkin's lymphoma. A 47-year-old man presented with a several month history of non-specific acquired ichthyosis, an unknown period of generalized lymphadenopathy and a short history of erythematous papules and nodules affecting the cutaneous drainage area of his right axillary lymph nodes. histology confirmed these lesions to be specific lesions of Hodgkin's lymphoma; that is, metastatic retrograde lymphatic spread from his axillary lymph nodes of CD30 , CD15 , reed-sternberg cells as well as mononuclear Hodgkin's cells. This is the most common site and mode of spread of Hodgkin's disease to the skin. As is typical of advanced Hodgkin's disease, as evidenced by specific cutaneous involvement, this patient died shortly after definitive diagnosis was made. ( info) |
4/383. A syndrome of congenital ichthyosis, hypogonadism, small stature, facial dysmorphism, scoliosis and myogenic dystrophy. Rud syndrome formerly was considered as a genetically heterogeneous but distinct clinical entity with the manifestations of ichtyosis, hypogonadism, small stature, mental retardation, epilepsy and, infrequently, retinitis pigmentosa. The existence of such a syndrome has recently been dismissed based on a new understanding of the ichthyoses. We report on the clinical history of a 14-year-old boy with congenital ichthyosis, small stature, hypogonadism, facial dysmorphism, nystagmus, kypho-scoliosis and myogenic dystrophy. He was diagnosed as Rud syndrome but developed neither seizures nor mental retardation. However a cousin was mentally retarded. The ichthyosis was familial as five relatives had ichthyosis but no other features of Rud syndrome. The patient had a deletion of the steroid-sulfatase gene. He had neither chondrodysplasia punctata, nor kallmann syndrome, two conditions which are part of the contiguous gene syndrome of the Xp22.3 region. Most case reports previously reported as Rud syndrome can now be reassigned under a contemporary ichthyosis classification that does not include Rud syndrome as a distinct entity. This case was clearly distinct from refsum disease, sjogren-larsson syndrome and any of the other ichthyosis disorders that have been suggested as a replacement for Rud syndrome. Thus the case reported here appears distinct from any previously described, currently recognized syndrome. ( info) |
5/383. CD30-positive cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma with ichthyosis acquisita. Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma recognized by the expression of the CD30 marker and by its morphology. We report an unusual case of ALCL in a 42-year-old woman. For ten years the patient only had pruritic erythematous skin lesions, then a plaque with nodules and ulcers on the right thigh and leg developed, followed by ichthyosis acquisita. The development of ALCL in women and the association of ichthyosis acquisita with this type of lymphoma are uncommon. ( info) |
| We report a large family with ichthyosis bullosa of siemens (IBS) including eight affected members spanning three generations. The classical features of the disease were consistently observed with blistering, superficial peeling of the skin, and localized lichenified hyperkeratosis mainly confined to the limbs. Phenotypic variation, however, was also observed with some individuals exhibiting unusual clinical features. Specifically, the index patient was erythrodermic at birth; she subsequently developed a widespread pustular eruption. Erythroderma is classically absent in IBS and pustulation is very unusual. She also had hypertrichosis of the limbs, as did an affected female first cousin. This has not previously been reported in IBS. Electron microscopy showed complex aggregates of keratin in the spinous and granular layers associated, in places, with remarkably little cell lysis. Sequencing of genomic dna revealed a mutation (E493K) in keratin 2e. A review of the literature on IBS indicates that E493K is the most commonly reported mutation to date and might represent a mutational hotspot for this disease. ( info) |
| Ichthyosiform sarcoidosis is a rare specific cutaneous manifestation of sarcoidosis; it clinically and microscopically appears as acquired ichthyosis. We report a 68-year-old black man with a 10-year history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who presented with a 2-month history of acquired ichthyosis. His skin biopsy specimen showed both noncaseating granulomas in the dermis, consistent with sarcoidosis, and ichthyosis vulgaris. Ichthyosiform sarcoidosis is an uncommon presentation of cutaneous sarcoidosis that has been previously described in 19 nonwhite patients whose lesions were located on the legs. The skin lesions appeared either concurrently with or preceded the diagnosis of systemic sarcoidosis in 76% of patients; 95% of the patients eventually developed systemic involvement of their sarcoidosis. The onset of acquired ichthyosis should prompt evaluation for an associated malignancy, connective tissue disease, endocrine abnormality, nutritional deficiency, drug reaction, or sarcoidosis. A skin biopsy specimen consistent with acquired ichthyosis may point to the presence of cutaneous sarcoidosis. ( info) |
| In two siblings (a female and a male neonate), severe microcephaly, bilateral absence of the pyramids, severe hypoplasia of the cerebral peduncles, and dysplasia of the inferior olives was found together with microphthalmia, facial malformations and multiple contractures of the extremities. In both cases, the cerebral hemispheres otherwise showed a more or less normal gyral pattern with the insula incompletely covered by the opercula, and a tom but otherwise intact corpus callosum. In case 2, congenital cataract was also observed. The present cases can be characterized as a rapidly fatal, familial syndrome, probably transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait, and have several features in common with the Neu-Laxova syndrome. They differ in having a less severe form of microcephaly, a rather normal cytoarchitecture of the cerebral cortex, an apparently normal corpus callosum, no gross cerebellar abnormalities, and no other organ malformations. The present cases belong to a group of heterogeneous syndromes which have microcephaly, ocular and facial malformations, multiple contractures, and ichthyosis-like skin in common. ( info) |
| A 24-year-old man with down syndrome presented with prominent ichthyosiform skin on his extremities and psoriatic plaques on his chest, back and scalp. The late onset of his ichthyosis without family history suggested that it was not a heritable form but was associated down syndrome. Such an association with ichthyosis and psoriasis has not been described previously. ( info) |
| ichthyosis bullosa of siemens is a unique type of congenital ichthyosis characterized by mild hyperkeratosis over the flexural areas and blister formation after mechanical trauma and superficial denuded areas in the hyperkeratotic skin. Recently, mutations in the helix initiation or termination motifs of keratin 2e (KRT2E) have been described in ichthyosis bullosa of siemens patients. The majority of the mutations reported to date lie in the 2B region. We report a novel amino acid substitution mutation (asparagine-->aspartic acid) in codon 192 at the conserved 1A helix initiation site of the rod domain of KRT2E in a Japanese family with ichthyosis bullosa of siemens. Our data indicate aspartic acid substitution in codon 192 in the 1A helix initiation site is deleterious to keratin filament network integrity and leads to ichthyosis bullosa of siemens phenotype. ( info) |