We report the beneficial effects of calcium infusions in a child with hereditary resistance to 1,25(OH)2D and alopecia. This patient after transient responsiveness to vitamin D derivatives became unresponsive to all therapy despite serum 1,25(OH)2D concentrations maintained at levels -100-fold normal. A 7-mo trial with calcium infusions led to correction of biochemical abnormalities and healing of rickets. Bone biopsies (n = 3) showed a normal mineralization and the disappearance of the osteomalacia. Cultures of bone-derived cells demonstrated a lack of activation of 25-hydroxyvitamin D 24-hydroxylase and osteocalcin synthesis by 1,25(0H)2D3 (10-' and 10' M). These results demonstrate that (a) even in the absence of a normal 1,25(OH)2D3 receptor-effector system in bone cells, normal mineralization can be achieved in humans if adequate serum calcium and phosphorus concentrations are maintained; and (b) calcium infusions may be an efficient alternative for the management of patients with this condition who are unresponsive to large doses of vitamin D derivatives.

It has been suggested that in uremic bone, aluminum interferes with normal mineralization. Aluminum content and aluminum localization were studied in iliac crest biopsies of two groups of patients on regular hemodialysis; one group had histologic osteomalacia, and little or no bone resorption (group 1); the other, osteitis fibrosa and no mineralization defect (group 2). Group 1 patients had significantly higher plasma aluminum concentrations than those of group 2. No difference was found in bone aluminum content, which was above normal in both groups. In the bone samples of the osteomalacic subjects, aluminum was mainly localized at the limit between osteoid and calcified tissue, the site where the bone mineral is normally first deposited. Osteomalacia could not be related to hypocalcemia or to phosphate depletion. Active vitamin D derivatives (25-hydroxycholecalciferol and 1alpha-hydroxycholecalciferol) failed to prevent or to improve the bone disease. In the bone samples of group 2 subjects, aluminum could not be localized by the methods used, except in the two cases with greatly elevated bone aluminum, where it was mainly localized on cement lines. In group 2 subjects, immunoreactive parathyroid hormone plasma concentration, osteoclast surface, and marrow fibrosis were significantly higher than they were in group 1 subjects. It is concluded that in bone from uremic patients on regular dialysis, aluminum can induce a particular form of osteomalacia, resistant to the vitamin D active derivatives. The bone disease is only observed in the absence of severe secondary hyperparathyroidism. This suggests that parathyroid hormone may be involved in the development of the aluminum-induced mineralization defect.

We measured plasma concentrations of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25-(OH)2D) in the course of a 6-to-37-month survey of four children with hypercalcemia and an elfin facies (Williams syndrome). Levels of 1,25-(OH)2D were elevated (160 to 470 pg per milliliter) during the hypercalcemic phase of the disease, when the children were five to nine months old, and they decreased thereafter. Plasma 1,25 (OH)2D levels were higher than those found in three children (16 to 60 months old) with the elfin facies syndrome and no hypercalcemia (42 to 71 pg per milliliter) and eight children (1 to 36 months old) with hypercalcemia and no dysmorphy (12 to 140 pg per milliliter), including two children with vitamin D intoxication. Hypercalcemia in the three children with elfin facies was controlled by a low-calcium diet. Serum calcium levels fell to the normal range, and plasma 1,25-(OH)2D levels were normal for age (18 to 105 pg per milliliter) at 14 to 47 months of age, even after appropriate therapy had been discontinued. These observations suggest that hypercalcemia may be the consequence of abnormal synthesis or degradation of 1,25-(OH)2D in children with the elfin facies syndrome.

1) distinct patterns of clinical response can occur in patients with the syndrome of vitamin D-dependency type II, and can be associated with differing abnormalities in interaction of 1,25-(OH)2D3 with cultured skin fibroblasts; 2) aggravation of the resistance to 1,25-(OH)2D3 may occur during long term therapy in some patients.