Propionic acidemia: an extremely rare cause of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in an infant

Hemophagocytic lymphohystiocytosis (HLH) may be primary (inherited/familial) or secondary to infections, malignancies, and metabolic diseases. Cases including lysinuric protein intolerance, multiple sulfatase deficiency, galactosemia, Gaucher disease, Pearson syndrome, and galactosialidosis have previously been reported. It is unclear how the metabolites trigger HLH in metabolic diseases. A 2-month-old infant with lethargy, pallor, poor feeding, hepatosplenomegaly, fever and pancytopenia, was diagnosed with HLH and the HLH-2004 treatment protocol was initiated. Analysis for primary HLH gene mutations and metabolic screening tests were performed together; primary HLH gene mutations were negative, but hyperammonemia and elevated methyl citrate were detected. Propionic acidemia was diagnosed with tandem mass spectrometry in neonatal dried blood spot. We report this case of HLH secondary to propionic acidemia. Both metabolic disorder screening tests and gene mutation analysis may be performed simultaneously especially for early diagnosis in infants presenting with HLH

Evaluation of GLUT1, IGF-2, VEGF, FGF 1, and angiopoietin 2 in infantile hemangioma.

Introduction: Infantile hemangioma (IH) is a common vascular tumor in children. It is reported that IHs are associated with immunochemical markers such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A, glucose transporter isoform 1 (GLUT1), and insulin-like growth factor-2 (IGF-2)

The Effects of Immunophenotyping with Flow Cytometry on Prognosis in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Background: The identification of immunophenotype subgroups is very important for the diagnosis and prognosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL). Material and Methods: The study included 105 children with ALL(65 males, 40 females; mean age 5.9±3.8 years) who were treated TR-ALL 2000(modified) BFM treatment protocol. Results: The distributions of EGIL classification were pro-B ALL(n=1), common B ALL(n=46), pre-B ALL(n=40), pre-T ALL(n=8), cortical T ALL(n=6), and mature T ALL(n=4). Leukocyte≥100,000/mm³, lymphadenopathy≥2 cm, mediastinal involvement were commonly identified in T ALL group. T ALL had a poor response to chemotherapy according to 8th-day peripheral circulation blast counts and 15th-day bone marrow aspiration(BMA) blast counts. The recurrence, mortality, and death rate in the induction period of treatment were frequently detected in T ALL group. The variables that had prognostic potential, as indicated by univariate analyses, were leukocyte count, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and lymphadenopathy at the time of diagnosis, 8th-day steroid response, 15th-day BMA response, risk group, recurrence, and immunophenotyping. Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that only the leukocyte count(HR 2.51, p < 0.001) was a predictor of prognosis. Conclusion: Immunophenotyping may be effective in the diagnosis and prognosis of ALL, identification of risk groups, and in risk-based treatment planning. T ALL had a poor prognosis

The Effects of Immunophenotyping with Flow Cytometry on Prognosis in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Background: The identification of immunophenotype subgroups is very important for the diagnosis and prognosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL). Material and Methods: The study included 105 children with ALL(65 males, 40 females; mean age 5.9±3.8 years) who were treated TR-ALL 2000(modified) BFM treatment protocol. Results: The distributions of EGIL classification were pro-B ALL(n=1), common B ALL(n=46), pre-B ALL(n=40), pre-T ALL(n=8), cortical T ALL(n=6), and mature T ALL(n=4). Leukocyte≥100,000/mm³, lymphadenopathy≥2 cm, mediastinal involvement were commonly identified in T ALL group. T ALL had a poor response to chemotherapy according to 8th-day peripheral circulation blast counts and 15th-day bone marrow aspiration(BMA) blast counts. The recurrence, mortality, and death rate in the induction period of treatment were frequently detected in T ALL group. The variables that had prognostic potential, as indicated by univariate analyses, were leukocyte count, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and lymphadenopathy at the time of diagnosis, 8th-day steroid response, 15th-day BMA response, risk group, recurrence, and immunophenotyping. Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that only the leukocyte count(HR 2.51, p < 0.001) was a predictor of prognosis. Conclusion: Immunophenotyping may be effective in the diagnosis and prognosis of ALL, identification of risk groups, and in risk-based treatment planning. T ALL had a poor prognosis

A novel frameshift mutation in the FGA gene (c.196 delT) leading to congenital afibrinogenemia

Congenital afibrinogenemia is characterized by the absence of fibrinogen. Congenital fibrinogen disorders result from several mutations in FGA, FGB, or FGG. Their epidemiology is not well known

A 3-Year Retrospective Study of the Epidemiology of Acute Respiratory Viral Infections in Pediatric Patients with Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy

Background:Acute viral respiratory infections are common causes of febrile episodes in children. There are still limited data about distribution of acute viral respiratory infections in children with cancer.Objective:The first aim of this study was to evaluate the viral etiology and seasonality of acute viral respiratory infection in pediatric patients with cancer in a 3-year study. Our second aim was to evaluate the impact of viral infections on delaying the patients' chemotherapy or radiotherapy.Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2014 to July 2017. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were analyzed in patients younger than 21 years with acute respiratory infections. Patients were treated in the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Department of Dr. Behçet Uz Children's Hospital with real-time multiplex polymerase chain reaction. Data were analyzed to determine the frequency and seasonality of infections. The χ 2 or the Fisher exact tests were used.Results:A total of 219 samples of nasopharyngeal aspirates and blood were analyzed. The mean patient age was 76.8±59.3 months, with 46.3% female and 53.7% male children in a total of 108 patients. Of this total, 55% (60/108 cases) had multiple acute respiratory infections. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (48.1%) was the most prevalent disease. The 3 most prevalent viruses were human rhinovirus (HRV) (33.1%), parainfluenza (PI) (18.7%), and coronavirus (CoV) (14.8%). In terms of the seasonal distribution of viruses, PI was most common in winter 2014, HRV in spring 2014, HRV in fall 2014, PI in winter 2015 and summer 2015, CoV in spring 2015, HRV in fall 2015, both influenza and HRV in winter 2016, both human metapneumovirus and bocavirus in spring 2016, HRV in summer 2016, both HRV and PI in fall 2016, both respiratory syncytial virus and influenza in winter 2017, HRV in spring 2017, and both HRV and adenovirus in summer 2017. The mean duration of neutropenia for patients with viral respiratory infection was 17.1±13.8 (range: 2 to 90) days. The mean duration of symptoms of viral respiratory infection was 6.8±4.2 (range: 2 to 31) days. A delay in chemotherapy treatment owing to viral respiratory infection was detected in 73 (33.3%) patients. The mean duration of delay in chemotherapy treatment was 9.6±5.4 (range: 3 to 31) days.Conclusions:In conclusion, we report our 3-year experience about the frequency and seasonality of respiratory viruses in children with cancer

Evaluation of clinical findings and neurofibromatosis type 1 bright objects on brain magnetic resonance images of 60 Turkish patients with NF1 gene variants

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is caused by mutations in the NF1 gene. This retrospective study aims to evaluate the clinical manifestations and brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) analysis in 60 genetically confirmed NF1 patients. The results of next-generation sequencing (NGS), Sanger sequencing, and MLPA of NF1 gene were evaluated. A total of 54 different variants were identified. Fourteen out of them were novel variants (25.9%). Patients who complied with NIH criteria had most frequently frameshift variants (11/32 patients), and those with only CALMs had missense variants (9/28 patients). Neurofibromatosis type 1 bright objects (NBOs) on T2-weighted MRI were detected in 42 patients (42/56; 75%). These brain lesions were detected mostly in basal ganglia and in cerebellar vermis. NBOs were detected more in the patients who complied with NIH criteria (80.6%) compared to those who were only CALMs (68%). While frameshift variants (33.3%) were the most common type variants in the patients who had NBOs, the most common variants were splicing (35.7%) and missense (35.7%) variants in the patients whose MRIs were normal. Frameshift variants (11/28 patients; 39.3%) were the most common in the patients with more than one brain locus involvement. Therefore, we consider that frameshift variants may be associated with increased incidence of NBOs and involvement of more than one brain locus. In addition, NBOs may occur less frequently in the patients with splicing variants. To our knowledge, this is the first study evaluated the relationship between NF1 gene variants and NBOs. Future studies may help us understand the etiology of NBOs