Background: Hyper-Immunoglobulin M (IgM) syndrome (HIGM) is a rare primary immunodeficiency in which defective B-cell isotype switching results in a phenotype characterized by elevated or normal serum IgM levels and low levels of other Ig classes, leading to an increased susceptibility to infection, neutropenia, autoimmune disorders, and malignancies. In this disease, a mutation occurs in the C...

The hyper-IgM syndromes (HIGMs) are a group of primary immune deficiency diseases characterized by a normal or elevated serum level of IgM and low or absent serum levels of IgG, IgA and IgE. Here, we report a case of X-linked HIGM with a new CD40L gene mutation presenting with eosinophilia. The patient experienced recurrent pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) from 4 months ...

T he autistic spectrum comprises four subgroups: Asperger’s syndrome (AS), 2 and high, medium, and low functioning autism. They all share the phenotype of social difficulties and obsessional interests. In AS, the individual has normal or above average IQ and no language delay. In the three autism subgroups there is invariably some degree of language delay, and the level of functioning is indexe...

Recent work indicates that mutations in a cytidine deaminase homologue ablate both immunoglobulin class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation. These findings now explain cases of autosomal hyper-IgM syndrome and reveal that critical components for key functions of B cells require RNA editing.

The clinical and immunological aspects of 16 children with the syndrome of hypogammaglobulinaemia associated with normal or increased IgM (the hyper IgM syndrome) and their responses to treatment are reviewed. Increased concentrations of IgM, neutropenia, and recurrent infections could usually be controlled by antimicrobial and intravenous immunoglobulin treatment. Together with the bacterial i...

The Hyper-immunoglobulin M syndromes (HIGM) are a heterogeneous group of genetic disorders resulting in defects of immunoglobulin class switch recombination. Affected patients show humoral immunodeficiency and high susceptibility to opportunistic infections. Elevated serum IgM levels are the hallmark of the disease, even though in few rare cases they may be in the normal range. Hyper IgM is ass...

The authors describe the case of a 28-year-old woman, with a history of recurrent bacterial infections since childhood and multiple hospitalizations for pneumonia, with important pulmonary sequelae, including bronchiectasis which warranted the need to perform a left lobectomy and lingulectomia at age 13. After diagnostic work up, the diagnosis of hypogammaglobulinemia with hyper-IgM was establi...