alpha1-Antitrypsin deficiency associated with persistent cutaneous vasculitis. Occurrence in a child with liver...

alpha1-Antitrypsin (alpha1-AT) deficiency is an autosomal recessive inherited disease. The serum concentration of the protease inhibitor (Pi) alpha1-AT is controlled by a set of codominant allelic genes, constituting the so-called Pi system. Abnormal conditions reported in connection with severe alpha1-AT deficiency of the PiZZ type have been, in the newborn, cholestasis and progressive juvenile cirrhosis, and in adults, panacinar pulmonary emphysema and liver disease. Skin changes have not been described previously in connection with this disease picture. The case is persistent cutaneous vasculitis in a 2-year-old child with alpha1-AT deficiency of the PiZZ type, heterozygosity for the Duarte variant of galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase, and neonatal liver disease. A pathogenetic relationship may exist between the biochemical defects and both the skin and liver diseases.