A Unique Case Involving a Female Patient with Upshaw-Schulman Syndrome: Low Titers of Antibodies against ADAMTS13 prior to Pregnancy Disappeared after Successful Delivery.

BACKGROUND

Upshaw-Schulman syndrome (USS) is usually suspected based on severe deficiency of ADAMTS13 activity without ADAMTS13 antibody, but the definitive diagnosis is made by ADAMTS13 gene analysis. We present a unique case of USS with low titers of ADAMTS13 antibodies before pregnancy. Interestingly, titers of ADAMTS13 antibodies decreased to almost undetectable levels after delivery.

CASE REPORT

In patient LL4, the diagnosis of USS was confirmed at age 27 by ADAMTS13 gene analysis. She became pregnant at age 30. During the pregnancy, she received regular fresh frozen plasma (FFP) infusion. Plasma von Willebrand factor levels increase as pregnancy progresses. To prevent platelet thrombi, much more ADAMTS13 supplementation is necessary during late gestation in patients with USS. Therefore, we shortened the interval between and increased the volume of FFP infusions as pregnancy progressed. At 39 weeks, she delivered a healthy baby girl. Before pregnancy, she had low titers of both neutralizing and binding anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies. Despite frequent FFP infusions, titers of the antibodies did not increase, but rather decreased to almost undetectable levels during pregnancy.

CONCLUSION

Both the neutralizing and binding antibodies against ADAMTS13 decreased to almost undetectable levels after delivery in this patient, which can be caused by an immunological reset.