Adenosine-deaminase deficiency in two patients with severely impaired cellular immunity

ER Giblett, JE Anderson, F Cohen, B Pollara… - The Lancet, 1972 - Elsevier
ER Giblett, JE Anderson, F Cohen, B Pollara, HJ Meuwissen
The Lancet, 1972Elsevier
Two young unrelated girls with similar but not identical manifestations of immunological
deficiency were found to have no measurable adenosine-deaminase (ADA) enzyme activity
in their red blood-cells. The red-cell ADA levels in the parents of one child were about half
normal and in the other set of parents about two-thirds normal, suggesting they may be
heterozygous, and their affected children homozygous, for a mutant ADA gene. Since the
ADA produced by normal lymphocytes is mainly the kind found in red cells, a causal …
Abstract
Two young unrelated girls with similar but not identical manifestations of immunological deficiency were found to have no measurable adenosine-deaminase (A.D.A.) enzyme activity in their red blood-cells. The red-cell A.D.A. levels in the parents of one child were about half normal and in the other set of parents about two-thirds normal, suggesting they may be heterozygous, and their affected children homozygous, for a mutant A.D.A. gene. Since the A.D.A. produced by normal lymphocytes is mainly the kind found in red cells, a causal association is postulated between the absence of A.D.A. and impaired lymphocyte function in certain patients with inherited immune disease. An alternative possibility of partial chromosomal deletion is also considered.
Elsevier