Clinical phenotype characteristics and genetic analysis in children with nephronophthisis and related syndromes caused by different gene mutations / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To improve the understanding of the clinical phenotypes and genetic characteristics of nephronophthisis (NPHP) and related syndromes in children.@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of eight children with NPHP and related syndromes who were diagnosed and treated in the Department of Pediatrics of the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, from January 2018 to November 2022. The clinical characteristics and genetic testing results were analyzed.@*RESULTS@#Among these eight children, there were five boys and three girls, with an age of onset ranging from 15 months to 12 years. All 8 children exhibited different degrees of renal function abnormalities when they attended the hospital. Among the eight children, two had the initial symptom of delayed development, two had the initial symptom of anemia, and two were found to have abnormal renal function during physical examination. The extrarenal manifestations included cardiovascular abnormalities in two children, skeletal dysplasia in two children, liver dysfunction in one child, retinitis pigmentosa in one child, and visceral translocation in one child. All eight children had renal structural changes on ultrasound, and four children had mild to moderate proteinuria based on routine urine test. Of all eight children, five had NPHP1 gene mutations and one each had a gene mutation in the NPHP3, IFT140, and TTC21B genes, and four new mutation sites were discovered.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Children with NPHP and related syndromes often have the initial symptom of delayed development or anemia, and some children also have extrarenal manifestations. NPHP and related syndromes should be considered for children with unexplained renal dysfunction, and high-throughput sequencing may help to make a confirmed diagnosis.

Association between autophagy and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis and related mechanism: a preliminary study / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the role of autophagy in the development of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) by analyzing the expression of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3-II (LC3-II), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), and suppressor of T-cell receptor signaling 1 (STS-1) in peripheral blood lymphocytes of children with sJIA.@*METHODS@#A total of 26 children with sJIA were enrolled as the sJIA group, and 26 healthy children were enrolled as the control group. Western blot was used to measure the protein expression of LC3-II, STS-1, and MyD88 in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Immunofluorescence assay was used to measure the expression of LC3-II in the cytoplasm of lymphocytes. Pearson correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation between indices.@*RESULTS@#Compared with the control group, the sJIA group had significant increases in the expression of LC3-II, STS-1, and MyD88 (P<0.05). In the sJIA group, the expression of LC3-II was positively correlated with that of MyD88 (r=0.478, P<0.05), and the expression of STS-1 was also positively correlated with that of MyD88 (r=0.817, P<0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#There is high expression of LC3-II in peripheral blood lymphocytes of children with sJIA, suggesting that the development of sJIA may be associated with excessive expression of autophagy. STS-1 may induce autophagy by activating some signaling pathways, and MyD88 may participate in autophagy through the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway.