Publications by authors named "Luigi D Notarangelo"

Background: Heterozygous immunoproteasome subunit beta-type 10 (PSMB10) mutations can cause severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and Omenn syndrome (OS). Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in these patients is associated with severe complications and poor immune reconstitution, often resulting in death.

Objective: To perform immunological and molecular characterization of an infant with a PSMB10 heterozygous variant.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The PECOS study is investigating the long-term effects of pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infections by comparing infected and uninfected participants aged 0-21.
  • Participants were assessed on various health metrics, including symptom reports, physical exams, and psychological surveys, revealing that those infected reported significantly worse outcomes in several health domains.
  • The findings indicate that SARS-CoV-2 infection could negatively impact children's overall quality of life, highlighting the importance of ongoing research to understand these long-term effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

T cells develop from circulating precursor cells, which enter the thymus and migrate through specialized subcompartments that support their maturation and selection. In humans, this process starts in early fetal development and is highly active until thymic involution in adolescence. To map the microanatomical underpinnings of this process in pre- and early postnatal stages, we established a quantitative morphological framework for the thymus-the Cortico-Medullary Axis-and used it to perform a spatially resolved analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The thymus is crucial for optimal T-cell development by facilitating the generation and selection of a diverse repertoire of T cells that can recognize foreign antigens while promoting tolerance to self-antigens. A number of inborn errors of immunity causing complete or partial defects in thymic development (athymia) and/or impaired thymic function have been increasingly recognized that manifest clinically with a combination of life-threatening infections, severe multiorgan autoimmunity, and/or cardiac, craniofacial, ectodermal, and endocrine abnormalities. The introduction of newborn screening programs and the advent of thymic transplantation show promise for early detection and improving the outcomes of patients with certain thymic inborn errors of immunity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Pathogenic variants in a specific transcription factor are linked to syndromes like EEC and AEC, and this case report presents an infant with severe T cell lymphopenia, detected during newborn screening.
  • Flow cytometry revealed low levels of CD4+ and almost no CD8+ T cells, while the B and NK cell levels were normal; further genetic analysis identified a particular variant in the transcription factor.
  • Using an artificial thymic organoid system, researchers found that T cell differentiation occurred, implying a thymic defect, leading to the patient receiving an allogenic cultured thymus tissue implant, which showed promising signs of T cell development after 9 months.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Some babies with a specific mutation in the IL7R gene have a serious immune problem called SCID, where they lack a certain type of immune cells called T cells, but still have normal B and NK cells.
  • In a study of 6 adults who have a similar genetic issue, they showed low levels of T cells but had relatively normal levels of other immune cells, indicating a more specific problem in T cell development.
  • Even though their T cells didn’t grow well in the lab, the study hints that there might be another way T cells can develop that doesn’t depend solely on the IL-7 cytokine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The article you're looking at has a special code called a DOI that helps find it online.
  • This specific DOI (10.3389/fimmu.2011.00015) is linked to a research paper about immune science.
  • The text mentions that there was a correction made to that original article.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • SCID is a serious genetic condition that causes the body to have very few T-cells, which are important for fighting off infections.
  • This condition can happen because of problems in T-cell development or the cells that help T-cells grow, making babies very vulnerable to severe illnesses.
  • Treatments include special cell transplants, gene therapy, or even putting a new thymus in the body, and screening babies at birth helps catch SCID early so they can get better care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • APECED is a serious genetic autoimmune disorder linked to variants in the autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene, with 16% of evaluated patients lacking known harmful variants, most of whom are of Puerto Rican descent.
  • Researchers discovered a deep intronic variant (c.1504-818 G>A) in these patients that causes a cryptic splice site leading to a dysfunctional protein through pseudoexon inclusion.
  • They developed an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) that corrected this genetic issue, demonstrating the potential for targeted treatments in APECED patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates a specific genetic variant in the IP3 receptor that results in a significant disorder affecting multiple systems, characterized by immunodeficiency and disturbed calcium release in cells.
  • The variant (c.7570C>T, p.Arg2524Cys) leads to cellular defects, particularly impacting T cells, and is shown to affect calcium regulation and mitochondrial function, evidenced in laboratory models.
  • Patients exhibited a range of symptoms beyond immunodeficiency, such as ectodermal dysplasia and short stature, suggesting that this genetic mutation plays a unique and broader role in disease compared to previously documented cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Severe defects in human IFNγ immunity predispose individuals to both Bacillus Calmette-Guérin disease and tuberculosis, whereas milder defects predispose only to tuberculosis. Here we report two adults with recurrent pulmonary tuberculosis who are homozygous for a private loss-of-function TNF variant. Neither has any other clinical phenotype and both mount normal clinical and biological inflammatory responses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recent technological advances have transformed our understanding of the human thymus. Innovations such as high-resolution imaging, single-cell omics, and organoid cultures, including thymic epithelial cell (TEC) differentiation and culture, and improvements in biomaterials, have further elucidated the thymus architecture, cellular dynamics, and molecular mechanisms underlying T cell development, and have unraveled previously unrecognized levels of stromal cell heterogeneity. These advancements offer unprecedented insights into thymic biology and hold promise for the development of novel therapeutic strategies for immune-related disorders.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Chronic norovirus infection (CNI) causes significant morbidity in immunocompromised patients. No effective prevention or treatment currently exists.

Methods: Two patients with inborn errors of immunity, X- linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-SCID) and DOCK8 deficiency, were followed longitudinally for clinical course, immune reconstitution, norovirus-specific T cell (NST) response, B cell reconstitution, and norovirus-specific antibody production.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: In this study, we retrospectively reviewed the use of flow cytometry (FCM) in the diagnosis of inborn errors of immunity (IEIs) at a single center in Algeria. Sharing insights into our practical experience, we present FCM based diagnostic approaches adapted to different clinical scenarios.

Methods: Between May 2017 and February 2024, pediatric and adult patients presenting with clinical features suggestive of immunodeficiency were subjected to FCM evaluation, including lymphocyte subset analysis, detection of specific surface or intracellular proteins, and functional analysis of immune cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aims: There is an increased risk of lymphomas in inborn errors of immunity (IEI); however, germline genetic testing is rarely used in oncological patients, even in those with early onset of cancer. Our study focuses on a child with a recombination-activating gene 1 () deficiency who was identified through a screening program for Slavic founder genetic variants among patients who died with malignancy at an early age in Belarus.

Results: We identified one homozygous founder variant out of 24 available DNA samples from 71 patients who developed lymphoma aged <3 years from the Belarusian cancer registry between 1986 and 2023.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inherited deficiency of the RNA lariat-debranching enzyme 1 (DBR1) is a rare etiology of brainstem viral encephalitis. The cellular basis of disease and the range of viral predisposition are unclear. We report inherited DBR1 deficiency in a 14-year-old boy who suffered from isolated SARS-CoV-2 brainstem encephalitis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 (APS-1) is a severe genetic disorder resulting from AIRE deficiency, leading to self-reactive T cells causing autoimmune damage in various organs.
  • The study investigated the role of interferon-γ in APS-1 by analyzing patient samples and conducting experiments with mice, finding that high levels of interferon-γ correlate with disease activity.
  • Treatment with the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib significantly reduced interferon-γ levels and improved symptoms in APS-1 patients, suggesting that targeting this pathway may be a viable therapeutic approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

FMS-related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (FLT3L), encoded by FLT3LG, is a hematopoietic factor essential for the development of natural killer (NK) cells, B cells, and dendritic cells (DCs) in mice. We describe three humans homozygous for a loss-of-function FLT3LG variant with a history of various recurrent infections, including severe cutaneous warts. The patients' bone marrow (BM) was hypoplastic, with low levels of hematopoietic progenitors, particularly myeloid and B cell precursors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The linear ubiquitin assembly complex (LUBAC), made up of HOIP, HOIL-1, and SHARPIN, is crucial for immune responses, with deficiencies leading to severe issues like immunodeficiency and autoinflammation.
  • Two individuals with SHARPIN deficiency exhibited autoinflammatory symptoms but did not have the expected skin problems seen in other cases, and their cells showed reduced immune responses.
  • Treatment with anti-TNF therapies successfully resolved the autoinflammatory symptoms in one case, highlighting LUBAC's important role in managing immune cell death and maintaining immune balance in humans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We describe humans with rare biallelic loss-of-function variants impairing pre-α T cell receptor (pre-TCRα) expression. Low circulating naive αβ T cell counts at birth persisted over time, with normal memory αβ and high γδ T cell counts. Their TCRα repertoire was biased, which suggests that noncanonical thymic differentiation pathways can rescue αβ T cell development.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a parasitic zoonosis caused by spp. that usually manifests itself in immunocompromised subjects. It is a rare and neglected disease, and it is not endemic in the province of Brescia (Italy).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is characterized by a severe deficiency in T cell numbers. We analyzed data collected (n = 307) for PHA-based T cell proliferation from the PIDTC SCID protocol 6901, using either a radioactive or flow cytometry method. In comparing the two groups, a smaller number of the patients tested by flow cytometry had <10% of the lower limit of normal proliferation as compared to the radioactive method (p = 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recombination activating genes () are tightly regulated during lymphoid differentiation, and their mutations cause a spectrum of severe immunological disorders. Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) transplantation is the treatment of choice but is limited by donor availability and toxicity. To overcome these issues, we developed gene editing strategies targeting a corrective sequence into the human gene by homology-directed repair (HDR) and validated them by tailored two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and in vivo xenotransplant platforms to assess rescue of expression and function.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF