Wu De, Fang Liwei, Huang Ting, Ying Songcheng
Department of Paediatrics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Front Pediatr. 2021 Apr 28;9:634281. doi: 10.3389/fped.2021.634281. eCollection 2021.
TREX1 (three prime repair exonuclease 1) gene encodes DNA 3' end repair exonuclease that plays an important role in DNA repair. Mutations in TREX1 gene have been identified as the cause of a rare autoimmune neurological disease, Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS). Here, we report an AGS case of a 6-month-old Chinese girl with novel TREX1 variants. The patient had mild rashes on the face and legs, increased muscle tensions in the limbs, and positive cervical correction reflex. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging showed that there were patches of slightly longer T1 and T2 signals in the bilateral cerebral hemisphere and brainstem white matter, mainly in the frontotemporal lobe, together with decreased white matter volume, enlarged ventricles, and widened sulcus fissure. Total exon sequencing showed that the TREX1 gene of the child had mutations of c.137_138insC and c.292_293insA, which had not been reported before. In addition, elevated type I interferons were detected by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the patient's serum. Together, our study demonstrated that novel TREX1 variants (c.137_138insC and c.292_293insA) cause AGS for the first time.
TREX1(3'端修复核酸外切酶1)基因编码DNA 3'端修复核酸外切酶,该酶在DNA修复中起重要作用。TREX1基因突变已被确定为一种罕见的自身免疫性神经疾病——艾卡迪-古铁雷斯综合征(AGS)的病因。在此,我们报告一例6个月大的中国女孩患有新型TREX1变异的AGS病例。该患者面部和腿部有轻度皮疹,四肢肌张力增加,颈矫正反射阳性。头颅磁共振成像显示双侧大脑半球和脑干白质有片状稍长T1和T2信号,主要位于额颞叶,同时白质体积减小、脑室扩大和脑沟增宽。全外显子测序显示该患儿的TREX1基因存在c.137_138insC和c.292_293insA突变,此前未见报道。此外,采用酶联免疫吸附测定法检测到患者血清中I型干扰素升高。我们的研究共同首次证明了新型TREX1变异(c.137_138insC和c.292_293insA)可导致AGS。