Two newborn-onset patients of Upshaw–Schulman syndrome with distinct subsequent clinical courses

Abstract

Upshaw-Schulman syndrome (USS) is caused by a congenital deficit in ADAMTS13 activity owing to genetic mutations. USS is characterized by severe neonatal jaundice with a negative Coombs test and repeated childhood episodes of thrombocytopenia reversible by fresh frozen plasma (FFP) infusions. We present two patients with USS, both of whom underwent exchange blood transfusions as newborns, although the disease subsequently developed along different clinical courses. USS-CC5 initially received a diagnosis of neonatal jaundice due to fetomaternal ABO incompatibility with an indirect positive Coombs test, which masked the diagnosis of USS. Before prophylactic FFP infusions were initiated, USS-CC5 had chronic thrombocytopenia. In contrast, thrombocytopenia developed in USS-HH4 only in response to infections and spontaneously normalized without FFP infusions. Analyses of the ADAMTS13 genes in USS-CC5 and USS-HH4 revealed compound heterozygotes of p.R398C/p.Q723K and p.Q449X/p.Q1374Sfs, respectively. Analysis of von Willebrand factor (VWF) multimers in plasma samples taken from both patients in remission showed single symmetrical multimer bands, which differ from the triplet structure of bands observed in normal samples. These data suggested that plasma VWF multimers in the patients had not been proteolytically modified. Our results indicate the presence of a previously unknown regulatory mechanism for VWF-dependent high-shear stress-induced platelet aggregation.