Thalidomide as an Effective Treatment in Sideroblastic Anemia, Immunodeficiency, Periodic Fevers, and Developmental...

Sideroblastic anemia, immunodeficiency, periodic fevers, and developmental delay (SIFD) is an autosomal recessive syndrome caused by biallelic loss-of-function variant of tRNA nucleotidyl transferase 1 (TRNT1). Efficacious methods to treat SIFD are lacking. We identified two novel mutations in TRNT1 and an efficacious and novel therapy for SIFD.

We retrospectively summarized the clinical records of two patients with SIFD from different families and reviewed all published cases of SIFD.

Both patients had periodic fever, developmental delay, rash, microcytic anemia, and B cell lymphopenia with infections. Whole-exome sequencing of patient 1 identified a previously unreported homozygous mutation of TRNT1 (c.706G > A/p.Glu236Lys). He received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) replacement and antibiotics, but died at 1 year of age. Gene testing in patient 2 revealed compound heterozygous mutations (c.907C > G/p.Gln303Glu and c.88A > G/p.Met30Val) in TRNT1, the former of which is a novel mutation. Periodic fever was controlled in the first month after adalimumab therapy and IVIG replacement, but recurred in the second month. Adalimumab was discontinued and replaced with thalidomide, which controlled the periodic fever and normalized inflammatory markers effectively. A retrospective analysis of reported cases revealed 69 patients with SIFD carrying 46 mutations. The male: female ratio was 1: 1, and the mean age of onset was 3.0 months. The most common clinical manifestations in patients with SIFD were microcytic anemia (82.6%), hypogammaglobulinemia/B cell lymphopenia (75.4%), periodic fever (66.7%), and developmental delay (60.0%). In addition to the typical tetralogy, SIFD features several heterogeneous symptoms involving multiple systems. Corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, and anakinra have low efficacy, whereas etanercept suppressed fever and improved anemia in reports. Bone-marrow transplantation can be used to treat severe SIFD, but carries a high risk. In total, 28.2% (20/71) of reported patients died, mainly because of multi-organ failure. Biallelic mutations located in exon1-intron5 lead to more severe phenotypes and higher mortality. Furthermore, 15.5% (11/71) patients survived to adulthood. The symptoms could be resolved spontaneously in five patients.

Thalidomide can control the inflammation of SIFD and represents a new treatment for SIFD.