Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, Genetic Basis, and Clinical Manifestations

Hematology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kavanagh ◽  
Timothy H. J. Goodship

Abstract Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is now well recognized to be a disease characterized by excessive complement activation in the microvasculature. In both the familial and sporadic forms, inherited and acquired abnormalities affecting components of the alternative complement pathway are found in ∼ 60% of patients. These include mutations in the genes encoding both complement regulators (factor H, factor I, membrane cofactor protein, and thrombomodulin) and activators (factors B and C3) and autoantibodies against factor H. Multiple hits are necessary for the disease to manifest, including a trigger, mutations, and at-risk haplotypes in complement genes. The prognosis for aHUS is poor, with most patients developing end-stage renal failure. Renal transplantation in most patients also has a poor prognosis, with frequent loss of the allograft to recurrent disease. However, improving results with combined liver-kidney transplantation and the advent of complement inhibitors such as eculizumab offer hope that the prognosis for aHUS will improve in future years.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Kollbrunner ◽  
Patricia Hirt-Minkowski ◽  
Javier Sanz ◽  
Elena Bresin ◽  
Thomas J. Neuhaus ◽  
...  

Lipoprotein glomerulopathy (LPG) is a rare inherited disease caused by mutations in the APOE gene, encoding apolipoprotein E (apoE). Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) characterized by overactivation of the alternative complement pathway. Here we report the case of a 21-year-old man with LPG who developed aHUS. A functional complement assay demonstrated an overactivation of the complement system. Complementary genetic analysis revealed a homozygous aHUS risk allele for complement factor-H related 1 (CFHR1), CFHR1*B. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an aHUS in a patient with LPG.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Bartlomiej Posnik ◽  
Dorota Sikorska ◽  
Krzysztof Hoppe ◽  
Krzysztof Schwermer ◽  
Krzysztof Pawlaczyk ◽  
...  

Atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome (aHUS), unlike typical HUS, is not due to bacteria but rather to an idiopathic or genetic cause that promotes dysregulation of the alternative complement pathway. It leads to hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and renal impairment. Although aHUS secondary to a genetic mutation is relatively rare, when occurring due to a mutation in Factor H (CFH), it usually presents with younger onset and has a more severe course, which in the majority ends with end-stage renal failure. Paradoxically to most available data, our case features acute aHUS due to a CFH mutation with late onset (38-year-old) and rapid progression to end-stage renal disease. Due to current data indicating a high risk of graft failure in such patients, the diagnosis of aHUS secondary to a genetic cause has disqualified our patient from a living (family) donor renal transplantation and left her with no other option but to begin permanent renal replacement therapy.


Blood ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 112 (13) ◽  
pp. 4948-4952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronique Frémeaux-Bacchi ◽  
Elizabeth C. Miller ◽  
M. Kathryn Liszewski ◽  
Lisa Strain ◽  
Jacques Blouin ◽  
...  

Abstract Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a disease of complement dysregulation. In approximately 50% of patients, mutations have been described in the genes encoding the complement regulators factor H, MCP, and factor I or the activator factor B. We report here mutations in the central component of the complement cascade, C3, in association with aHUS. We describe 9 novel C3 mutations in 14 aHUS patients with a persistently low serum C3 level. We have demonstrated that 5 of these mutations are gain-of-function and 2 are inactivating. This establishes C3 as a susceptibility factor for aHUS.


Author(s):  
Fadi Fakhouri ◽  
Marie Scully ◽  
Gianluigi Ardissino ◽  
Imad Al-Dakkak ◽  
Benjamin Miller ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a rare disease in which uncontrolled terminal complement activation leads to systemic thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA). Pregnancy can trigger aHUS and, without complement inhibition, many women with pregnancy-triggered aHUS (p-aHUS) progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) with a high risk of morbidity. Owing to relatively small patient numbers, published characterizations of p-aHUS have been limited, thus the Global aHUS Registry (NCT01522183, April 2012) provides a unique opportunity to analyze data from a large single cohort of women with p-aHUS. Methods The demographics and clinical characteristics of women with p-aHUS (n = 51) were compared with those of women of childbearing age with aHUS and no identified trigger (non-p-aHUS, n = 397). Outcome evaluations, including renal survival according to time to ESRD, were compared for patients with and without eculizumab treatment (a complement C5 inhibitor) in both aHUS groups. Results Baseline demographics and clinical characteristics were broadly similar in both groups. The proportion of women with p-aHUS and non-p-aHUS with pathogenic variant(s) in complement genes and/or anti-complement factor H antibodies was similar (45% and 43%, respectively), as was the proportion with a family history of aHUS (12% and 13%, respectively). Eculizumab treatment led to significantly improved renal outcomes in women with aHUS, regardless of whether aHUS was triggered by pregnancy or not: adjusted hazard ratio for time to ESRD was 0.06 (p = 0.006) in the p-aHUS group and 0.20 (p < 0.0001) in the non-p-aHUS group. Conclusion Findings from this study support the characterization of p-aHUS as a complement-mediated TMA. Graphic abstract


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-576
Author(s):  
I. A. Tuzankina ◽  
M. A. Bolkov ◽  
N. S. Zhuravleva ◽  
Yu. O. Vaseneva ◽  
Kh. Shinvari ◽  
...  

This article presents two clinical cases of patients with a homozygous deletion of segment of chromosome 1, which covers regions of genes associated with complement factor H, in particular CFHR3. Patients underwent in-depth clinical studies, heredity assessment, laboratory, instrumental and genetic diagnostics. The first clinical case describes a clinical case with deleted chromosome 1 segment in a 9-year-old girl who was diagnosed with atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome. This is a complement-dependent disease that affects both adults and children. It is known that a defect in any proteins included in the alternative complement activation pathway can lead to atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome. However, this syndrome is most often caused by defects in chromosome 1 region, including gene sequences associated with complement factor H – CFHR1 and CFHR3. Modern treatment of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome involves targeted pathogenetic treatment, therefore, the genetic diagnosis seems to be a necessary step for differential diagnosis and confirmation. The patient had fairly typical clinical symptoms, including signs of thrombotic microangiopathy, thrombocytopenia, hemolytic anemia and increasing renal failure. It is also known that her mother had congenital hydronephrosis, and the pregnancy proceeded against a background of ureaplasma, mycoplasma, cytomegalovirus infection, chronic pyelonephritis, and preeclampsia.The second clinical case of a deleted chromosome 1 region, involving the CFHR3 gene, is a description of the disease in a boy of 8 years old, while the disease manifested with alopecia at the age of 4. Intermittent alopecia was the main symptom, while there were no signs of renal failure, thrombocytopenic purpura, and other symptoms characteristic of atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome. The boy also revealed some congenital defects of the urinary system: bladder diverticulum, unilateral ureterohydronephrosis, and bilateral dilatation of the pyelocaliceal system. The detected genetic defect is usually associated with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. However, the phenotype, i.e., clinical manifestations, determined a completely different diagnosis – primary immunodeficiency, a group of complement defects, and a deficiency of complement factor H-related protein. After analyzing the given clinical cases, we can conclude that clinical manifestations may vary significantly in carriers of same gene mutations. This suggests that there are additional factors (genetic or environmental) that can influence the formation of various phenotypic manifestations of this pathology.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1&2) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleh Akchurin ◽  
Samriti Dogra ◽  
Frederick Kaskel ◽  
Dominique Jan ◽  
Stuart Greenstein ◽  
...  

Eculizumab is an anti-complement C5 monoclonal antibody that has recently been reported as an effective therapy for atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. However, few data are available on the preemptive use of this medication in pediatric kidney transplantation. This report describes a successful preemptive use of eculizumab in combination with living unrelated kidney transplanta- tion in a 10-year-old child with end-stage renal disease secondary to atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome who has a complement factor H mutation that has not been previously reported. Further observations and clinical trials are required to address the challenges and areas of uncertainty related to preemptive eculizumab therapy for kidney transplantation in children and adults with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-139
Author(s):  
Aleksandr V. Novikov

Atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome (aHUS) is an ultra-rare (orphan) disease, a form of thrombotic microangiopathy, which arises from a disturbance of the activation of an alternative complement pathway. Pregnancy is a frequent trigger for the onset of obstetric aHUS. Against the background of the disease in pregnant women, there is a high risk of developing pre-eclampsia, acute renal damage and consequently maternal mortality. In the world over the past 5 years, the number of confirmed cases of aHUS has increased. However, this is due not so much to the increase in the occurence of the disease as to the improvement in the methods of its diagnosis. The genetic nature of the aHUS dictates the need to create modern sensitive tests for the study of the complement system: measurement of the plasma concentration of factor H and factor I, C3, C4, genetic screening of regulatory genes, and others. It is also necessary to develop new drugs that, along with Eculizumabum (Soliris®, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Cheshire, CT, USA) would be used in the therapy of aHUS.


Nephron ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Francisco Ferrer ◽  
Marisa Roldão ◽  
Cátia Figueiredo ◽  
Karina Lopes

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is a thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) affecting the kidneys. Compared with typical HUS due to an infection from shiga toxin-producing <i>Escherichia coli</i>, atypical HUS involves a genetic or acquired dysregulation of the complement alternative pathway. In the presence of a mutation in a complement gene, a second trigger is often necessary for the development of the disease. We report a case of a 54-year-old female, with a past medical history of pulmonary tuberculosis, who was admitted to the emergency service with general malaise and reduction in urine output, 5 days after vaccination with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. Laboratory results revealed microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and acute kidney injury. Given the clinical picture of TMA, plasma exchange (PEX) was immediately started, along with hemodialysis. Complementary laboratory workup for TMA excluded thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and secondary causes. Complement study revealed normal levels of factors H, B, and I, normal activity of the alternate pathway, and absence of anti-factor H antibodies. Genetic study of complement did not show pathogenic variants in the 12 genes analyzed, but revealed a deletion in gene CFHR3/CFHR1 in homozygosity. Our patient completed 10 sessions of PEX, followed by eculizumab, with both clinical and laboratorial improvement. Actually, given the short time lapse between vaccination with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and the clinical manifestations, we believe that vaccine was the trigger for the presentation of aHUS in this particular case.


Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Moore ◽  
Lisa Strain ◽  
Isabel Pappworth ◽  
David Kavanagh ◽  
Paul N. Barlow ◽  
...  

Abstract Factor H autoantibodies have been reported in approximately 10% of patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) and are associated with deficiency of factor H–related proteins 1 and 3. In this study we examined the prevalence of factor H autoantibodies in the Newcastle cohort of aHUS patients, determined whether the presence of such autoantibodies is always associated with deficiency of factor H–related proteins 1 and 3, and examined whether such patients have additional susceptibility factors and/or mutations in the genes encoding complement regulator/activators. We screened 142 patients with aHUS and found factor H autoantibodies in 13 individuals (age 1-11 years). The presence of the autoantibodies was confirmed by Western blotting. By using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification we measured complement factor H–related (CFHR)1 and CFHR3 copy number. In 10 of the 13 patients there were 0 copies of CFHR1, and in 3 patients there were 2. In 3 of the patients with 0 copies of CFHR1 there was 1 copy of CFHR3, and these individuals exhibited a novel deletion incorporating CFHR1 and CFHR4. In 5 patients mutations were identified: 1 in CFH, 1 in CFI, 1 in CD46, and 2 in C3. The latter observation emphasizes that multiple concurrent factors may be necessary in individual patients for disease manifestation.


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