Unexpected and variable phenotypes in a family with JAK3 deficiency

Mutations of the Janus kinase 3 (JAK3) have been previously described to cause an autosomal recessive variant of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) usually characterized by the near absence of T and NK cells, but preserved numbers of B lymphocytes (T-B+SCID). We now report a family whose JAK3 mutations are associated with the persistence of circulating T cells, resulting in previously undescribed clinical presentations, ranging from a nearly unaffected 18-year-old subject to an 8-year-old sibling with a severe lymphoproliferative disorder. Both siblings were found to be compound heterozygotes for the same deleterious JAK3 mutations: an A96G initiation start site mutation, resulting in a dysfunctional, truncated protein product and a G2775(+3)C mutation in the splice donor site sequence of intron 18, resulting in a splicing defect and a predicted premature stop. These mutations were compatible with minimal amounts of functional JAK3 expression, leading to defective cytokine-dependent signaling. Activated T cells in these patients failed to express Fas ligand (FasL) in response to IL-2, which may explain the accumulation of T cells with an activated phenotype and a skewed T cell receptor (TcR) Vbeta family distribution. We speculate that residual JAK3 activity accounted for the maturation of thymocytes, but was insufficient to sustain IL-2-mediated homeostasis of peripheral T cells via Fas/FasL interactions. These data demonstrate that the clinical spectrum of JAK3 deficiency is quite broad and includes immunodeficient patients with accumulation of activated T cells, and indicate an essential role for JAK3 in the homeostasis of peripheral T cells in humans.