Abnormal Immune Profile in Individuals with Kabuki Syndrome

Objective

To analyze the lymphocyte subsets in individuals with Kabuki syndrome for better characterizing the immunological phenotype of this rare congenital disorder.

Methods

We characterized the immunological profile including B-, T- and natural killer-cell subsets in a series (N = 18) of individuals with Kabuki syndrome.

Results

All 18 individuals underwent genetic analysis: 15 had a variant in KMT2D and 3 a variant in KDM6A. Eleven of the 18 individuals (61%) had recurrent infections and 9 (50%) respiratory infections. Three (17%) had autoimmune diseases. On immunological analysis, 6 (33%) had CD4 T-cell lymphopenia, which was preferentially associated with the KMT2D truncating variant (5/9 individuals). Eight of 18 individuals (44%) had a humoral deficiency and eight (44%) had B lymphopenia. We found abnormal distributions of T-cell subsets, especially a frequent decrease in recent thymic emigrant CD4 + naive T-cell count in 13/16 individuals (81%).

Conclusion

The immunological features of Kabuki syndrome showed variable immune disorders with CD4 + T-cell deficiency in one third of cases, which had not been previously reported. In particular, we found a reduction in recent thymic emigrant naïve CD4 + T-cell count in 13 of 16 individuals, representing a novel finding that had not previously been reported.