Chronic granulomatous disease caused by a deficiency in p47phox mimicking Crohn's disease

JS Huang, D Noack, J Rae, BA Ellis, R Newbury… - Clinical …, 2004 - Elsevier
JS Huang, D Noack, J Rae, BA Ellis, R Newbury, AL Pong, JE Lavine, JT Curnutte, J Bastian
Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2004Elsevier
We describe 2 cases of autosomal recessive chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) in 2
sisters presenting with a picture consistent with inflammatory bowel disease. The index case
is a 10-year-old girl with a history of refractory Crohn's colitis treated with aggressive
immunosuppressive therapy whose course subsequently was complicated by central
nervous system aspergillosis. Additional evaluation showed a diagnosis of CGD, an
underlying immunodeficiency in which phagocytes fail to produce microbicidal reactive …
We describe 2 cases of autosomal recessive chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) in 2 sisters presenting with a picture consistent with inflammatory bowel disease. The index case is a 10-year-old girl with a history of refractory Crohn’s colitis treated with aggressive immunosuppressive therapy whose course subsequently was complicated by central nervous system aspergillosis. Additional evaluation showed a diagnosis of CGD, an underlying immunodeficiency in which phagocytes fail to produce microbicidal reactive oxygen intermediates because of inherited defects in the reduced form of nicotinamide-adenine phosphate dinucleotide (NADPH) oxidase. The diagnosis of a typically X-linked inherited disease in our female patient suggested that she had 1 of the 3 less common autosomal recessive forms of the disease. This was confirmed by studies showing the absence of the p47phox subunit of NADPH oxidase in her neutrophils and the presence of a homozygous dinucleotide deletion in the neutrophil cytosolic factor 1 gene that encodes p47phox. Additional analyses of members of the patient’s immediate family showed the same homozygous mutation in 2 siblings, 1 of whom also developed chronic colitis consistent with a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease. These 2 cases emphasize the importance of high clinical suspicion for an alternative diagnosis of immune deficiency in the setting of presumed inflammatory bowel disease and opportunistic infection.
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