SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND

BLNK, BTK, CD79A, CD79B, IGHM, IGLL1, LRRC8A, PIK3R1

Category:

Congenital agammaglobulinemia is characterized by severely reduced or absent serum antibodies and severely reduced or absent circulating B cells, caused by an early maturation disorder of the B cells. Those affected develop severe, recurrent bacterial infections in the first years of life. A serious and not uncommon complication is enteroviral meningoencephalitis.

 

The only treatment currently available is intravenous or subcutaneous substitution of immunoglobulins.

 

The most common form of agammaglobulinemia is X-linked agammaglobulinemia (Bruton type), which is caused by mutations in the BTK gene and is present in about 85-95% of male patients. The rare autosomal inherited agammaglobulinemias can hardly be distinguished from the X-linked form by clinical symptoms and contribute to up to 15% of patients with agammaglobulinemia. Due to their genetic heterogeneity, analysis by NGS may be useful.

 

References

Bousfiha et al. 2018, J Clin Immunol 38:129 / Picard et al. 2018, J Clin Immunol 38:96 / Smith et al. 2016, GeneReviews® [Internet], https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1453/ / Al-Herz et al. 2014, Front Immunol 5:162 / Bousfiha et al. 2013, J Clin Immunol 33:1078 / Conley 2009, Curr Opin Immunol 21:466 / Conley et al. 2005, Immunol Rev 203:216 / Conley et al. 1992, J Clin Immunol 12:139

 

GENES

BLNK, BTK, CD79A, CD79B, IGHM, IGLL1, LRRC8A, PIK3R1

ASSOCIATED TESTS

How to order

LATEST ARTICLES

A recent study tracked molecular changes in 108 people over time, revealing that aging involves critical shifts around ages 44 and 60. These changes ...

Read more

In May 2024, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) published new guidelines for germline genetic testing in patients with cancer (1). ...

Read more

Genetics as we know and understand it today has been shaped, over decades, by the work of many dedicated scientists around the world, and they all de...

Read more

A comprehensive single-cell transcriptomic atlas of 1.3 million cells from aged human brains reveals cellular pathways linked to Alzheimer’s diseas...

Read more

Infertility is a struggle for many individuals nowadays. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 6 people experience infertility, show...

Read more

A recent study highlights promising outcomes for BRCA variant carriers with breast cancer undergoing breast-conserving therapy. Analyzing 172 women, ...

Read more

Epidermolysis bullosa (EB), sometimes called butterfly skin, is a group of rare skin diseases with a common symptom: fragile skin that tears and blis...

Read more

In the rapidly evolving field of human genetics diagnostics, laboratories face the challenge of keeping up with the latest advancements in technology...

Read more

Medicine as we know it has been around for just over 100 years. Before this, alcohol and opium were the main forms of pain relief in Europe. The deve...

Read more

Below you can read the two winning essays from the second annual DNA essay competition. The subject of the essay was “Family history is one of the ...

Read more