Diagnosis Of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases Research Articles

Current Perspectives and Challenges of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases in Malaysia

Primary immunodeficiency disease (PID) or inborn error of immunity is a heterogenous group of inherited diseases affecting the immune system resulting in increased susceptibility to infections, immune dysregulation, autoimmune manifestations, lymphoproliferation and malignancy. Cases of PIDs have been reported in Malaysia since 1977 and the numbers of reported cases steadily increased for the past 30 years with more trained clinical immunologist available, better immunodiagnostic facilities, wider immunoglobulin replacement therapy availability and improved techniques in haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for PIDs. In this article, we highlight some of the limitations and challenges in the diagnosis and therapy of PID, and more recent efforts to establish PID service in Malaysia.

Diagnostic Approach to the Patients with Suspected Primary Immunodeficiency.

Primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs) are a group of more than 350 disorders affecting distinct components of the innate and adaptive immune systems. In this review, the classic and advanced stepwise approach towards the diagnosis of PIDs are simplified and explained in detail. Susceptibility to recurrent infections is the main hallmark of almost all PIDs. However, noninfectious complications attributable to immune dysregulation presenting with lymphoproliferative and/or autoimmune disorders are not uncommon. Moreover, PIDs could be associated with misleading presentations including allergic manifestations, enteropathies, and malignancies. Timely diagnosis is the most essential element in improving outcome and reducing the morbidity and mortality in PIDs. This wouldn't be possible unless the physicians keep the diagnosis of PID in mind and be sufficiently aware of the approach to these patients.

Flow Cytometry for the Diagnosis of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases: A Single Center Experience

PurposeWhile there is an urgent need for diagnosis and therapeutic intervention in patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs), current genetic tests have drawbacks. We retrospectively reviewed the usefulness of flow cytometry (FCM) as a quick tool for immunophenotyping and functional assays in patients suspected to have PIDs at a single tertiary care institute.MethodsBetween January 2001 and June 2018, patients suspected of having PIDs were subjected to FCM tests, including lymphocyte subset analysis, detection of surface- or intracellular-target proteins, and functional analysis of immune cells, at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. The genetic diagnosis was performed using Sanger or diagnostic exome sequencing.ResultsOf 60 patients diagnosed with definite or probable PID according to the European Society of Immune Deficiencies criteria, 24 patients were provided with useful information about immunological dysfunction after initial FCM testing. In 10 patients, the PID diagnosis was based on abnormal findings in FCM testing without genetic tests. The FCM findings provided strong evidence for the diagnosis of severe combined immunodeficiency (n = 6), X-linked chronic granulomatous diseases (CGD) (n = 6), leukocyte adhesion deficiency type 1 (n = 3), X-linked agammaglobulinemia (n = 11), autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome-FASLG (n = 1), and familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis type 2 (n = 1), and probable evidence for autosomal recessive-CGD (n = 2), autosomal dominant-hyper-immunoglobulin E (IgE)-syndrome (n = 1), and STAT1 gain-of-function mutation (n = 1). In PIDs derived from PIK3CD (n = 2), LRBA (n = 2), and CTLA4 mutations (n = 3), the FCM test provided useful evidence of immune abnormalities and a tool for treatment monitoring.ConclusionsThe initial application of FCM, particularly with known protein targets on immune cells, would facilitate the timely diagnosis of PIDs and thus would support clinical decisions and improve the clinical outcome.

Screening for primary immunodeficiency diseases by next-generation sequencing in early life.

ObjectiveWe aimed to use next‐generation sequencing (NGS) for the early diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs) and define its effects on medical management for an infant cohort in early life.MethodsA single‐centre study was conducted from November 2015 to April 2018. Infants less than 3 months old with infections or abnormal white blood cell counts were enrolled in the study. Gene variants were analysed by NGS, and once a mutation was found in a PID‐associated gene, the immune functions associated with this mutation were detected. The diagnosis rate of PIDs in the cohort was the main outcome. The patients received corresponding management and follow‐up treatments.ResultsAmong 2392 patients who were genetically tested with NGS, 51 infants were diagnosed with PIDs. Seven types of PIDs were detected, and the most common (25/51, 49%) were combined immunodeficiencies with associated or syndromic features. Thirty‐five patients (68.6%) were cured or had improved outcomes after being diagnosed with PID. The NGS cost was US$280 per case.ConclusionsThis study not only highlighted the potential of NGS to rapidly deliver molecular diagnoses of PIDs but also indicated that the prevalence of PIDs is underestimated. With broader use, this approach has the potential to alter clinical strategies.

Diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency diseases in the developing world: the need for education and networking with the developed world.

Even with the evident improvement in knowledge about clinical and molecular aspects and the technology used to diagnose primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs), there is still a significant delay in recognition of these diseases in the developing world, specifically in Latin America. In this review, the goal is to outline the challenges that need to overcome for the diagnosis of PIDs and the optimization of resources available based on our experience. We describe the advances achieved in the past decade in Latin America in terms of recognition of PIDs, as well as the need for improvement. We outline the need for continued medical education, the lack of resources for laboratory testing, and how genetic testing through next-generation sequencing (that is becoming a day-to-day tool) can be achieved in the developing world. We aim to gather information about the limitations and challenges for the diagnosis of PIDs in a low-resource environment and the opportunities to benefit from the available advanced tools for diagnosis.

Jakinibs for the Treatment of Immune Dysregulation in Patients With Gain–of–Function Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 1 (STAT1) or STAT3 Mutations

To investigate the efficacy of jakinib therapy in patients with gain-of-function (GOF) signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) or signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) mutations.The study included 17 total patients with either a STAT1 GOF (n = 11) or STAT3 GOF (n = 6) mutation who were treated with jakinibs (ruxolitinib or tofacitinib). Patients came from 11 international centers.This was a retrospective study to describe disease-related clinical manifestations and determine indication for treatment, dosage, length of treatment, treatment response, and treatment-associated complications. All subjects underwent thorough pre- and posttreatment clinical and laboratory evaluations and follow-up (follow-up period: 1–34 months).Fourteen patients (82%) responded favorably with clinical improvement to jakinib treatment. Observed clinical improvements included resolution of enteropathy leading to total parenteral nutrition independence, better lung function, improved autoimmune cytopenias, decreased arthritis symptoms, and remission of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. All patients with STAT1 GOF had resolved chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis with treatment. Most patients tolerated the jakinibs well with minimal or transient adverse effects. An increase in herpes zoster infections (none systemic and all cleared with antiviral agents) was observed in some patients. Four patients died despite treatment with a jakinib. The majority of these patients were critically ill with severe invasive infection or progressive lung disease. One patient died due to posttransplant complications.Jakinibs are both safe and effective in the treatment of patients with STAT1 or STAT3 GOF mutations with clinical manifestations of autoimmunity and/or immune dysregulation.Patients with STAT1 and STAT3 GOF mutations often present in early childhood with severe and/or refractory infections, lymphoproliferation, autoinflammation, and autoimmunity. Jakinibs allow for a targeted therapeutic approach to block the cytokine-induced JAK activation in STAT1 and STAT3 GOF diseases. This is the first study to evaluate the use and clinical impact of jakinibs in STAT1 and STAT3 GOF. The results are overwhelmingly encouraging, with the majority of patients having clinical improvement and reduction or resolution of autoimmune manifestations after treatment with a jakinib. Use of jakinibs late in disease progression or when critically ill was associated with mortality, suggesting early initiation may improve efficacy. This study has significant clinical impact in the treatment of STAT1 and STAT3 GOF and reinforces the notion that early genetic diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency diseases may lead to targeted therapeutic options and improved clinical outcomes.

The impact of combining educational program with the improving of infrastructure to diagnose on early detection of primary immunodeficiencies in children.

Early detection of primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID) is vital for adequate prevention and management of PID infectious complications. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a model combining physician education and public awareness with the infrastructure to diagnose PID to improve its early detection in children. Three approaches were combined and the results were followed from February 2017 to February 2019 in Ternopil region, Ukraine: the education of primary care physicians and other specialists on early PID detection using workshops, trainings, and targeted publications; organization of public events and media appearances to raise PID awareness; performing immunological testing for patients with suspected PID. Among the 150 individuals that were screened, PID was diagnosed in 19 patients (12.7%). The majority of diagnosed PID cases were combined immunodeficiency with associated or syndromic features, followed by antibody deficiencies. Patients referred by the specialist doctors had the highest percentage of confirmed PID compared with those referred by primary care physicians (p = 0.0273) and risk group patients (p = 0.0447). Among warning signs in patients with PID, two or more pneumonias within 1year occurred most often (26.3%), followed by failure of an infant to gain weight or grow normally (21.1%). Among other signs of PID, dysmorphic features and microcephaly were the most prevalent (31.6%). In conclusion, a program combining physician education and public awareness with infrastructure needed to diagnose primary immunodeficiency diseases is an effective tool for early PID diagnosis. Physician education was a more effective tool compared with rising public awareness.

Development A Guideline-based Decision Support System to Diagnosis of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases

Introduction: Primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID) are generally rare genetic disorders affecting the immune system. Overlapping PIDs symptoms and signs is a challenge to diagnosis and treatment. On the other hand, remembering of all diagnosis criteria is difficult for practitioners. The purpose of this research is developing guideline-based clinical decision support system for diagnosis of primary immune deficiency diseases, to assist practitioner in order to diagnose of disease in early stage and to minimize complications of such diseases.Material and Methods: To provide data a checklist was used and most important demographic information, symptoms, family history, physical findings and laboratory findings to diagnose eight common PIDs extracted from guidelines and literature under specialists opinion. The diagnosis inference model design and develop in Protégé (version 3.4.8) frame based ontology modeling using "Noy and McGuinness" method. Then the mobile based inference model in Eclipse (SDK version 3.7.1) software has been developed and clinical decision support system of primary immunodeficiency has been created.Results: To design the diagnosis inference model in Protégé software, data were classified in 5 main classes and 24 subclasses as hierarchical. Then, specific properties of each class, and determine the value of each property. Then define Instances of each class and initialized instance properties. Then use this model to develop CDSS based on mobile in Eclipse software. At the end, the inference model and the CDSS test with 110 patient’s record data and both of them recognized all 110 patient correctly such as specialist recognition.Conclusion:Guideline-based decision support systems help to detect diseases correctly, quickly and early. Guideline-based decision support systems are very reliable to practitioner, because guidelines are accepted to their. These systems reduce the forget probability of diagnosis stages and percentage error of diagnosis by practitioner and increase the accuracy of diagnosis.

Development A Guideline-based Decision Support System to Diagnosis of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases

Introduction: Primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID) are generally rare genetic disorders affecting the immune system. Overlapping PIDs symptoms and signs is a challenge to diagnosis and treatment. On the other hand, remembering of all diagnosis criteria is difficult for practitioners. The purpose of this research is developing guideline-based clinical decision support system for diagnosis of primary immune deficiency diseases, to assist practitioner in order to diagnose of disease in early stage and to minimize complications of such diseases. Material and Methods: To provide data a checklist was used and most important demographic information, symptoms, family history, physical findings and laboratory findings to diagnose eight common PIDs extracted from guidelines and literature under specialists opinion. The diagnosis inference model design and develop in Protege (version 3.4.8) frame based ontology modeling using "Noy and McGuinness" method. Then the mobile based inference model in Eclipse (SDK version 3.7.1) software has been developed and clinical decision support system of primary immunodeficiency has been created. Results: To design the diagnosis inference model in Protege software, data were classified in 5 main classes and 24 subclasses as hierarchical. Then, specific properties of each class, and determine the value of each property. Then define Instances of each class and initialized instance properties. Then use this model to develop CDSS based on mobile in Eclipse software. At the end, the inference model and the CDSS test with 110 patient’s record data and both of them recognized all 110 patient correctly such as specialist recognition. Conclusion:Guideline-based decision support systems help to detect diseases correctly, quickly and early. Guideline-based decision support systems are very reliable to practitioner, because guidelines are accepted to their. These systems reduce the forget probability of diagnosis stages and percentage error of diagnosis by practitioner and increase the accuracy of diagnosis.

Calculation of a Primary Immunodeficiency "Risk Vital Sign" via Population-Wide Analysis of Claims Data to Aid in Clinical Decision Support.

Background: Early diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency disease leads to reductions in illness and decreased healthcare costs. Analysis of electronic health record data may allow for identification of persons at risk of host-defense impairments from within the general population. Our hypothesis was that coded infection history would inform individual risk of disease and ultimately lead to diagnosis.Methods: In this study we assessed individual risk for primary immunodeficiency by analyzing diagnostic codes and pharmacy records from members (n = 185,892) of a large pediatric health network. Relevant infection-associated diagnostic codes were weighted and enumerated for individual members allowing for risk score calculations (“Risk Vital Sign”). At-risk individuals underwent further assessment by chart review and re-analysis of diagnostic codes 12 months later.Results: Of the original cohort, 2188 (1.2%) individuals were identified as medium-high-risk for having a primary immunodeficiency. This group included 41 subjects who were ultimately diagnosed with primary immunodeficiency. An additional 57 medium-high risk patients had coded diagnoses worthy of referral.Conclusions: Population-wide informatics approaches can facilitate disease detection and improve outcomes. Early identification of the 98 patients with confirmed or suspected primary immunodeficiency described here could represent an annual cost savings of up to $7.7 million US Dollars.

TREC and KREC Levels as a Predictors of Lymphocyte Subpopulations Measured by Flow Cytometry.

Primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID) is a heterogeneous group of disorders caused by genetic defects of the immune system, which manifests clinically as recurrent infections, autoimmune diseases, or malignancies. Early detection of other PID remains a challenge, particularly in older children due to milder and less specific symptoms, a low level of clinician PID awareness and poor provision of hospital laboratories with appropriate devices. T-cell recombination excision circles (TREC) and kappa-deleting element recombination circle (KREC) in a dried blood spot and in peripheral blood using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are used as a tool for severe combined immune deficiency but not in PID. They represent an attractive and cheap target for a more extensive use in clinical practice. This study aimed to assess TREC/KREC correspondence with lymphocyte subpopulations, measured by flow cytometry and evaluate correlations between TREC/KREC, lymphocyte subpopulations and immunoglobulins. We carried out analysis of data from children assessed by clinical immunologists at Speransky Children’s Hospital, Moscow, Russia with suspected immunodeficiencies between May 2013 and August 2016. Peripheral blood samples were sent for TREC/KREC, flow cytometry (CD3, CD4, CD8, and CD19), IgA, IgM, and IgG analysis. A total of 839 samples were analyzed for using TREC assay and flow cytometry and 931 KREC/flow cytometry. TREC demonstrated an AUC of 0.73 (95% CI 0.70–0.76) for CD3, 0.74 (95% CI 0.71–0.77) for CD4 and 0.67 (95% CI 0.63–0.70) for CD8, respectively, while KREC demonstrated an AUC of 0.72 (95% CI 0.69–0.76) for CD19. Moderate correlation was found between the levels of TREC and CD4 (r = 0.55, p < 0.01) and KREC with CD19 (r = 0.56, p < 0.01). In this study, promising prediction models were tested. We found that TREC and KREC are able to moderately detect abnormal levels of individual lymphocyte subpopulations. Future research should assess associations between TREC/KREC and other lymphocyte subpopulations and approach TREC/KREC use in PID diagnosis.

DEVELOPMENT OF A PATIENT-REPORTED OUTCOME MEASURING PATIENTS’ EXPERIENCE WITH IMMUNOGLOBULIN TREATMENT

Introduction The objective of this study is to assess the impact of immunoglobulin replacement therapy (IgRT) in individuals with primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDD) and to develop a self-reported measure evaluating patients’ experiences with IgRT, the Immunoglobulin Patient Experience with Treatment (IgPET), applicable to both subcutaneous (SC) and intravenous (IV) routes of administration (ROA) and different sites of care. Methods Cognitive interviews (CIs) were conducted with patients with PIDD in the US to better understand their experiences with and impact of IgRT and to obtain feedback on draft IgPET items. IgPET concepts were identified via literature searches for concepts applicable to all PIDD patients using IgRT. Questionnaire items were tested and refined through 3 iterative sets of CIs. Results CIs were conducted with 21 participants (females=19 [90%]; mean age [range], 42.5 [17–70] years; mean [range] years since PIDD diagnosis, 8.3 [1–26]). Approximately half of the patients were treated by each RoA. Overall, patients were generally “satisfied” with their current IgRT. The most commonly reported negative impacts of IgRT were side effects following IgRT (n=11 [52%]) and impact on social/family activities (n=6 [29%]). Impacts were generally similar across subgroups regardless of ROA or site of care. 29 items were tested in round 1, 20 in rounds 2 and 3. The final 19-item IgPET was easy to understand and answer, and important to patients’ IgRT experiences. Conclusions The IgPET is a new measure assessing patients’ experiences with IgRT. It was subsequently validated in 814 IgRT patients via a cross-sectional, observational study.

Cutaneous Manifestations of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases in Tunisian Children.

Skin manifestations are frequent among patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs). Their prevalence varies according to the type of immunodeficiency. This review provides the reader with an up-to-date summary of the common dermatologic manifestations of PIDs among Tunisian children. We conducted a prospective study on two hundred and ninety children with immune deficiency. Demographic details (including age, sex, and consanguinity) with personal and family history were recorded. Special attention was paid to cutaneous manifestations. Dermatological involvements were grouped according to the etiology of their most prominent sign. Cutaneous manifestations were found in 164 patients (56.5%). They revealed the diagnosis of PIDs in 71 patients (24.5 %). The mean age at presentation was 21 months. Overall the most prominent cutaneous alterations were infectious. They accounted for 106 cases (36.55%). The most prevalent causes of cutaneous infections were bacterial: 93 cases (32.06%). Immuno-allergic skin diseases were among the common findings in our study. These include eczematous dermatitis found in 62 cases (21.38%). Malignancy related PIDs was seen in a boy with Wiskott Aldrich syndrome. He developed Kaposi’s sarcoma at the age of 14 months. Cutaneous changes are common among children with PIDs. In pediatric patients with failure to thrive, chronic refractory systemic manifestations often present in other family members, recurrent cutaneous infections unresponsive to adequate therapy, atypical forms of eczematous dermatitis or unusual features should arouse the suspicion of PIDs and prompt specialized immunologic consultation should be made.

Targeted high-throughput sequencing technique for the molecular diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency disorders.

The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of targeted high-throughput sequencing (HTS) for the molecular diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID).A total of 56 clinically diagnosed or suspected PID patients were divided into 4 groups according to the International Union of Immunological Societies Expert Committee for Primary Immunodeficiency 2015 and their chief clinical presentations. Patients and their biological family members were examined by targeted HTS, which sequenced the exons and ±10 bp flanking introns of 171 PID-related genes panel. All significant variants were confirmed by PCR-Sanger sequencing. Pathogenicity of the variants was evaluated by using bioinformatics.A total of 117 variants in 73 genes were found in 56 patients. Accurate molecular diagnosis of PID was made in 13 (23.2%) patients, and 12 novel mutations were detected in these patients. Twenty-seven patients carried heterozygous variants that are probably pathogenic in ≥2 genes; 16 patients had only 1 missense variant, or had several variants but not >1 variant was deleterious as evaluated by bioinformatics. The meaning of the targeted HTS results of these patients remains to be studied.Targeted HTS can make a precise molecular diagnosis of PID and detect more novel pathogenic mutations. More and more variations with ambiguous significance are discovered and explanation of these variations is a challenge to the clinicians.

Newborn screening using TREC/KREC assay for severe T and B cell lymphopenia in Iran.

T-cell receptor excision circles (TRECs) and κ-deleting recombination excision circles (KRECs) are recently used for detection of T or B cell lymphopenia in neonates based on region-specific cutoff levels. Here, we report cutoffs for TREC and KREC copies useful for newborn screening and/or diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID) in Iran. DNA was extracted from a single 3.2mm punch of dried blood spots collected from 2160 anonymized newborns referred to two major referral health centres between 2014 and 2016. For refinement of the cutoffs, 51 patients with a definite diagnosis of severe combined immunodeficiency, X-linked agammaglobulinaemia and combined immunodeficiency, including ataxia telangiectasia, human phosphoglucomutase 3 and Janus kinase-3 deficiency, as well as 47 healthy controls were included. Samples from patients with an X-linked hyper-IgM-syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and DNA ligase 4 deficiency were considered as disease controls. Triplex-quantitative real-time PCR was used. Cutoffs were calculated as TRECs<11 and KRECs<6 copies with an ACTB > 700 copies with sensitivity of 100% for TREC and 97% for KREC. Among thirty anonymized newborn samples (1.5%) with abnormal results for TREC and/or KREC, only twenty-one available cases were retested and shown to be in the normal range except for three samples (0.15%). All of the patients with a definitive diagnosis were correctly identified based on our established TREC/KREC copy numbers. Determining cutoffs for TREC/KREC is essential for correctly identifying children with PID in newborn screening. Early diagnosis of PID patients enables appropriate measures and therapies like stem cell transplantation.

Pregnancy, child bearing and prevention of giving birth to the affected children in patients with primary immunodeficiency disease; a case-series

BackgroundPatients with primary immunodeficiency disease (PID) who survive to adulthood and willing to have a child mostly are worried whether their disease affects their fertility and/or pregnancy and also if their child would be predisposed to PID.Case presentationWe report the outcome of conception, pregnancy and their management in 9 families with definite diagnosis of PID. A chronic granulomatous disease subject with an uneventful pregnancy developed fungal sacral osteomyelitis few weeks after delivery. A pregnant common variable immunodeficiency disease (CVID) patient with idiopathic thrombocytopenia had platelet count dropped before delivery. A sever neutropenic mother who refused to get IFNγ delivered two healthy children. A CVID case intolerant to IVIg with eclampsia and PTE delivered a baby. Another CVID female gave birth to a baby without being on any treatment since she was not diagnosed with immunodeficiency disease at that time. A healthy girl was implanted via preimplantation gender selection in a family who owned a Wiskott Aldrich-affected son. A family who had two children with Ataxia Telangiectasia used donated oocyte for their 3rd child. Prenatal genetic diagnosis was used to screen the fetus for the impaired BTK and CVID genes detected in sibling and father respectively in 2 separate families.ConclusionPregnancy in PID patients is more complex than normal population. Because, not only it has the chance of being inherited by the offspring, but also there are some risks for the mother if she has any kind of immunity component defects. So consultation with a clinical geneticist is crucial to choose the best available approach. They also should be observed and followed by a clinical immunologist to take the best possible safe care.

Chronic granulomatous disease due to different mutations in patients from the same consanguineous extended family

Chronic granulomatous disease is a primary immunodeficiency disease caused by a genetic mutation in any of the 5 genes encoding the different components of the Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate reduced (NADPH)-Oxidase enzyme complex. Since primary immunodeficiency diseases are considered to be rare diseases, the genetic diagnosis of a certain primary immunodeficiency leads to the reasonable assumption that all patients with the same disease within the same family will have the same genetic mutation. We report 2 patients with chronic granulomatous disease from the same extended consanguineous family who had different genetic causes of their disease. Therefore, it is crucial to obtain a definitive genetic diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency disease even in patients from the same family, where the same genetic diagnosis is presumed to be the cause of the disease. Statement of novelty: Genetic causes of chronic granulomatous disease may be different in patients from the same family.

Prevalence And Outcomes Of Primary Immunodeficiency In Hospitalized Children In The United States

The prevalence and outcomes of primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDDs) in the pediatric population in the United States are not well understood. The objectives of this study were to 1) Determine the epidemiology of children hospitalized with PIDD in the United States and 2) Characterize the clinical outcomes of hospitalized children with PIDDs. Retrospective cohort analysis of the 2003-2012 Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID) of children ages 2-18 years admitted with a primary or secondary diagnosis of PIDD was performed. There were 26,794 pediatric patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of a PIDD from 2003-2012. The national prevalence of all PIDDs per 100,000 was 66.6, 82.2, 97.4 and 126.8 in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012, respectively. The highest prevalence was in children 0-5 years of age (15,105 hospitalizations; 56%). There was no difference in prevalence between B cell defects and T cell defects. PIDDs affected all ethnic populations equally. Respiratory related diagnoses were the most common co-morbidity by organ system. Overall mortality was 1.98%. Age was inversely correlated with clinical outcome. Children 0-5 years had higher mortality (424 deaths, 79.85%), mean hospital charges ($35,480) and length of stay (LOS) (5.6 days) compared to older age cohorts. The prevalence of PIDDs in the hospitalized pediatric population in the United States has steadily increased over time. Younger age is associated higher mortality, hospital costs and LOS. Further study is needed to determine cost-effective management strategies to improve outcomes in infants and young children with PIDD.

Multicolor Flow Cytometry for the Diagnosis of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases.

Primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDDs) are rare inherited diseases that impair the human immune system. We established a multicolor flow cytometric assay to comprehensively evaluate the immune status and immunological characteristics of patients with PIDDs. Fifty-nine normal controls and 75 patients with PIDDs, including X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-SCID), X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA), X-linked hyper IgM syndrome (X-HIGM), ataxia telangiectasia (AT), Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), hyper IgE syndrome (HIES), and chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis disease (CMCD), were enrolled in this study. Immunophenotyes were evaluated by multicolor flow cytometry using seven different panels that allowed the detection of major leukocyte populations in peripheral blood. Multicolor flow cytometry revealed distinct leukocyte populations and immunological features of patients with X-SCID, XLA, X-HIGM, AT, WAS, HIES, and CMCD. Immunophenotyping by multicolor flow cytometry is useful to evaluate immune status and contributes to the diagnosis and management of patients with PIDDs.

Pulmonologist perspectives regarding diagnosis and management of primary immunodeficiency diseases.

The time from symptom onset to diagnosis for patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDD) is an average of 12 years, but prompt diagnosis and treatment can promote best outcomes. Because the manifestations of PIDD are often sinopulmonary in nature, patients with undiagnosed PIDD are frequently referred to pulmonologists. This study sought to identify opportunities among these specialists to improve diagnosis and clinical management of patients with PIDD. A survey was sent to American Medical Association and American Osteopathic Association members whose specialty was pulmonology. Responses were compared with those from a historical survey of 71 subspecialist immunologists (American Academy of Allergy, Asthma Immunology members who devoted 10% of their practice to patients with PIDD). The surveys were returned by 485 pulmonologists, 49% of whom had diagnosed at least one patient with PIDD. In comparison with subspecialist immunologists, fewer pulmonologists were aware of the professional PIDD diagnosis and management guidelines and fewer followed up patients with various PIDDs. Pulmonologists and subspecialist immunologists also differed in the practice of prescribing prophylactic antibiotics and immunoglobulin replacement and in avoiding live viral vaccines. Differences in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with PIDD between these two groups of specialists revealed areas in which PIDD-focused educational initiatives may be helpful for pulmonologists.