Neonatal presentation of a patient with Liddle syndrome, South Africa

African Journal of Laboratory Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Neonatal presentation of a patient with Liddle syndrome, South Africa
 
Creator Steyn, Nicolene Chale-Matsau, Bettina Abera, Aron B. van Biljon, Gertruida Pillay, Tahir S.
 
Subject Medicine, Paediatric Nephrology, Endocrinology Liddle syndrome; epithelial sodium channels; genetic sequencing; hypertension; hyporeninaemia; hypoaldosteronism.
Description Introduction: Liddle syndrome is an autosomal dominantly inherited disorder usually arising from single mutations of the genes that encode for the alpha, beta and gamma epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) subunits. This leads to refractory hypertension, hypokalaemia, metabolic alkalosis, hyporeninaemia and hypoaldosteronism, through over-activation of the ENaC.Case presentation: We describe a 5-day old neonate who presented with severe hypernatraemic dehydration requiring admission to Steve Biko Academic Hospital in South Africa in 2012. Further evaluation revealed features in keeping with Liddle syndrome. Two compound heterozygous mutations located at different subunits encoding the ENaC were detected following genetic sequencing done in 2020. The severe clinical phenotype observed here could be attributed to the synergistic effect of these known pathological mutations, but may also indicate that one of the other variants detected has hitherto undocumented pathological effects.Management and outcome: This child’s treatment course was complicated by poor adherence to therapy, requiring numerous admissions over the years. Adequate blood pressure control was achieved only after the addition of amiloride at the end of 2018, which raised the suspicion of an ENaC abnormality.Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first Liddle syndrome case where a combined effect from mutations resulted in severe disease. This highlights the importance of early recognition and management of this highly treatable genetic disease to prevent the grave sequelae associated with long-standing hypertension. Whole exome sequencing may assist in the detection of known mutations, but may also unveil new potentially pathological variants.What this study adds: This study highlights the importance of developing a high index of suspicion of tubulopathy such as Liddle syndrome for any child presenting with persistent hypertension associated with hypokalaemic metabolic alkalosis. 
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Christiaan Labuschagne Erika Viljoen of Inqaba Biotechnical Industries for technical assistance with sequencing studies
Date 2023-04-14
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Case report
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ajlm.v12i1.1998
 
Source African Journal of Laboratory Medicine; Vol 12, No 1 (2023); 6 pages 2225-2010 2225-2002
 
Language eng
 
Relation
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https://ajlmonline.org/index.php/ajlm/article/view/1998/2620 https://ajlmonline.org/index.php/ajlm/article/view/1998/2621 https://ajlmonline.org/index.php/ajlm/article/view/1998/2622 https://ajlmonline.org/index.php/ajlm/article/view/1998/2623
 
Coverage — Neonatal —
Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Nicolene Steyn, Bettina Chale-Matsau, Aron B. Abera, Gertruida van Biljon, Tahir S. Pillay https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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