Objectives3β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) deficiency is a rare type of congenital adrenal hyperplasia caused by recessive loss-of-function mutations in HSD3B2 gene.Case presentationWe report an 8.5-year-old, 46XY, Roma boy with advanced adrenarche signs born to consanguineous parents. He was born at term with ambiguous genitalia. At 15 days of age, he underwent replacement therapy with hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone due to a salt wasting (SW) crisis and adrenal insufficiency. At 3.5 years, he was admitted again with SW crisis attributed to the low – unadjusted to body surface area – hydrocortisone dose and presented with bilateral gynecomastia and adrenarche. At 8.5 years, his bone age was four years more advanced than his chronological age and he was prepubertal, with very high testosterone levels. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) urinary steroid metabolome analysis revealed the typical steroid metabolic fingerprint of 3β-HSD deficiency. Sequencing of the HSD3B2 gene identified in homozygosity the novel p.Lys36Ter nonsense mutation. Furthermore, this patient was found to be heterozygous for p.Val281Leu in the CYP21A2 gene. Both parents were identified as carriers of the p.Lys36Ter in HSD3B2.ConclusionsA novel nonsense p.Lys36Ter mutation in HSD3B2 was identified in a male patient with hypospadias. 3β-HSD deficiency due to mutations in the HSD3B2 gene is extremely rare and the finding of a patient with this rare type of disorders of sex development (DSD) is one of the very few reported to date. The complexity of such diseases requires a multidisciplinary team approach regarding the diagnosis and follow-up.
Pathogenesis of invasive candidiasis may involve regulatory activities of Th2 immunity on phagocytic host defenses. The effects of interleukin (IL)-4 on antifungal capacity of human mononuclear phagocytes against Candida albicans were studied. Incubation of adherent mononuclear leukocytes from healthy donors with IL-4 (1-5 ng ml(-1)) at 37 degrees C for 2-4 days suppressed uptake of C. albicans blastoconidia in the presence of human serum (P < or = 0.01), and anti-IL-4 inhibited its suppressive effect. The effect of IL-4 was protein synthesis-dependent. Interferon-gamma (0.25-25 ng ml(-1)), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF, 20 ng ml(-1)), macrophage-CSF (15 ng ml(-1)) but not IL-10 (100 ng ml(-1)) somewhat counteracted the suppressive effect of IL-4. In contrast, mannose receptor-mediated uptake of blastoconidia in the absence of serum was increased by IL-4. Killing of conidia was decreased after incubation of morphonuclear leukocytes with IL-4 for 2 days (P < 0.05). While superoxide anion production in response to phorbol myristate acetate was decreased by IL-4 (P < 0.05), it was not altered in response to blastoconidia and pseudohyphae. Morphonuclear leukocyte-induced pseudohyphal damage also remained unaltered. These findings suggest that IL-4 plays its detrimental role in invasive candidiasis by predominantly suppressing uptake and killing of blastoconidia by morphonuclear leukocytes. Anti-IL-4, IFN-gamma, GM-CSF and M-CSF appear to counteract suppression of morphonuclear leukocyte phagocytic activity suggesting new approaches to the management of disseminated candidiasis.
The results of this study suggest that the serum LBP concentration constitutes a reliable biologic marker for the diagnosis of a febrile UTI in children.
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