Diversity of adenosine deaminase in children with EBV-related diseases

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is an enzyme involved in purine metabolism with an important role in cellular immunity. Thus, this study investigated the association between ADA and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related diseases.

We retrospectively collected data from all children admitted to the Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China, between May 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, who underwent plasma EBV-DNA polymerase chain reaction, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and ADA testing.

Of 6868 children, 1877 had an elevated level of ADA, and 4991 had a level within the normal range. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that ALT (adjusted odds radio [aOR] = 1.001, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.001-1.002), EBV infection (aOR = 8.486, 95% CI: 6.753-10.663), inflammatory disease (aOR = 3.915, 95% CI: 3.198-4.794), autoimmune disease (aOR = 2.307, 95% CI: 1.823-2.920), and malignant disease (aOR = 1.381; 95% CI: 1.101-1.734) were risk factors for an elevated ADA level. Furthermore, the ADA levels among EBV-related diseases significantly differed, including infectious mononucleosis, atypical EBV infection, respiratory infection, malignant disease, and other diseases (P < 0.05). In addition, the ADA level positively correlated with the Epstein-Barr viral load (r = 0.501, P < 0.05).

This large, retrospective study identified a correlation between ADA and EBV-related diseases, which may help clinicians detect these diseases earlier based on the plasma ADA concentration.