FOXN1 Italian founder mutation in Indian family: Implications in prenatal diagnosis.

The Forkhead box N1 (FOXN1) is a transcriptional factor regulating the development, differentiation and function of thymic epithelial cells; maintaining T-lineage progenitors in bone marrow; promoting terminal differentiation of epithelial cells of hair follicles. Mutation in FOXN1 was reported to cause a rare disorder characterized by rudimentary thymus gland, T-cell immunodeficiency, congenital alopecia and nail dystrophy within an Italian community. This is the first report of FOXN1 p.

Pleiotropic consequences of Bruton tyrosine kinase deficiency in myeloid lineages lead to poor inflammatory responses.

Bruton tyrosine kinase (Btk), a non-receptor-associated tyrosine kinase of the Tec family, appears to participate in many myeloid cell functions. We show that macrophages from X-linked immunodeficient (XID) mice lacking functional Btk cannot generate efficient bursts of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs). The induction of apoptotic cell death by inflammatory stimuli is also enhanced in XID macrophages.