Harlequin Infant Born to a Varicella Infected Mother: A Case Report.

Harlequin ichthyosis is a rare, severe form of congenital ichthyosis characterised by distinct physical appearance of the infant. It has occurrence of 1 in 1 million births and over 100 cases have been reported so far. It is caused by mutation in ABCA12 gene involved in lipid transport leading to profound thickening of stratum corneum. The mainstay of management relies on supportive care & administration of retinoid derivatives. Outcome is usually fatal and most of the babies die during neonatal period. In this article, we report a case of harlequin baby born of non-consanguineous marriage with history of chicken pox in the mother during first trimester of pregnancy.

Harlequin color change after abdominal paracentesis in a newborn with neonatal hemochromatosis.

Harlequin color change is a distinctive cutaneous phenomenon presenting as a well-demarcated color change, with half of the body displaying erythema and the other half pallor. Only a few cases have been reported, possibly because of under-recognition. Recognition of this benign, self-limited condition may enable physicians to avoid unnecessary interventions. Herein we describe a neonate with nonimmune hydrops fetalis due to neonatal hemochromatosis who developed Harlequin color change after abdominal paracentesis.

Celiac disease and lamellar ichthyosis. Case study analysis and review of the literature.

We describe a 5-year-old female affected by lamellar ichthyosis, diagnosed in the first month of life, who attended our pediatric clinic for Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia. The evidence of severe osteoporosis with hyperparathyroidism secondary to malabsorption suggested the occurrence of celiac disease. Endoscopy with multiple duodenal biopsies revealed total villous atrophy. The child started a gluten-free diet, supported by oral calcium and vitamin D. After 1-year follow-up, the girl showed complete normalization of bone mineral density. The introduction of the gluten-free diet did not lead to lesion repair, but the child reported significant improvement of her quality of life.

[Shwachman-diamond syndrome as cause of infantile eczema associated with failure to thrive]. / Shwachman-Diamond-Syndrom als Ursache eines Säuglingsekzems mit begleitender Dystrophie.

BACKGROUND: Shwachman-Diamond syndrome is an autosomal recessive multisystem disorder involving an insufficiency of the exocrine pancreas and haematological problems as main symptoms. Frequently, ichthyosiform skin lesions are described but are usually not the leading symptom of the disease. CASE REPORT: We report on a 6-months-old boy suffering from ichthyosiform and eczematous skin eruptions beginning at the age of 3 months which were accompanied by failure to thrive. Because of an atopic predisposition and a sensitisation to hen's egg the diagnosis atopic dermatitis with food allergy was established. We describe the steps leading to the diagnosis Shwachman-Diamond syndrome. CONCLUSION: Shwachman-Diamond syndrome may present with skin eruptions as main symptom. A mixed clinical picture with an atopic dermatitis may occur and can aggravate skin symptoms. Additional medical problems like failure to thrive or neutropenia should lead to further diagnostic procedures to exclude Shwachman-Diamond syndrome.

Relato de caso: bebê arlequim – ictiose congênita / Case report: baby harlequin - congenital ichthyosis

Feto arlequim é uma variante grave da ictiose congenita, uma herança autossômica recessiva que causa alteração da queratinização da pele, que incide em cerca de 1/100.000 nascimentos e está geralmente associada a consaguinidade dos pais. Manifesta-se ao nascimento como uma pele espessada que evolui para rachaduras generalizadas, comprometendo as suas funções básicas e predispondo a infecções. Relata-se o caso de um RN do sexo feminino, cujos pais não referem nenhum grau de parentesco. A mesma foi mantida em isolamento em incubadora, mas feleceu no nono dia de vida por insuficiência respiratória restritiva.

Harlequin fetus is a variant of severe congenital ichthyosis, an autosomal recessive heredity make change in the keratinization of skin, which appear around 1/100.000 births and is usually associated with consaguineus parents. At birth it seems like a thicken skin that develops into widespread cracks, affecting its basics functions and predisposes to infections. We report the case of a female newborn, whose parents don’t mention any degree of kinship. The baby stood on isolation in incubator, but died at ninth day of life from restrictive respiratory failure.

Harlequin ichthyosis unmasked: a defect of lipid transport.

Harlequin ichthyosis (HI)--the most severe form of keratinizing disorders, often lethal in the neonatal period--is characterized by a profound thickening of the keratin skin layer, a dense "armor"-like scale that covers the body, and contraction abnormalities of the eyes, ears, and mouth. In this issue of the JCI, Akiyama et al. report that mutations in ABCA12 caused defective lipid transport that significantly impacted normal development of the skin barrier. Lipid secretion was recovered after corrective ABCA12 gene transfer into patient keratinocytes. These results should allow for early prenatal diagnosis of HI and lend hope to the possibility of a specific treatment for this devastating disorder.

Mutations in lipid transporter ABCA12 in harlequin ichthyosis and functional recovery by corrective gene transfer.

Harlequin ichthyosis (HI) is a devastating skin disorder with an unknown underlying cause. Abnormal keratinocyte lamellar granules (LGs) are a hallmark of HI skin. ABCA12 is a member of the ATP-binding cassette transporter family, and members of the ABCA subfamily are known to have closely related functions as lipid transporters. ABCA3 is involved in lipid secretion via LGs from alveolar type II cells, and missense mutations in ABCA12 have been reported to cause lamellar ichthyosis type 2, a milder form of ichthyosis. Therefore, we hypothesized that HI might be caused by mutations that lead to serious ABCA12 defects. We identify 5 distinct ABCA12 mutations, either in a compound heterozygous or homozygous state, in patients from 4 HI families. All the mutations resulted in truncation or deletion of highly conserved regions of ABCA12. Immunoelectron microscopy revealed that ABCA12 localized to LGs in normal epidermal keratinocytes. We confirmed that ABCA12 defects cause congested lipid secretion in cultured HI keratinocytes and succeeded in obtaining the recovery of LG lipid secretion after corrective gene transfer of ABCA12. We concluded that ABCA12 works as an epidermal keratinocyte lipid transporter and that defective ABCA12 results in a loss of the skin lipid barrier, leading to HI. Our findings not only allow DNA-based early prenatal diagnosis but also suggest the possibility of gene therapy for HI.

[Congenital ichthyosiform erythrodermas: aspects of their etiology and pathogenesis]. / Vrozhdennye ikhtioziformnye éritrodermii: nekotorye aspekty étiologii i patogeneza.

The term "inherited ichthyosiform erythrodermia" (IIE) designates a heterogeneous group of inherited disturbances of keratinization. Lamellar ichthyosis (LI), inherited nonbullous ichthyosiform erythrodermia, bullous inherited ichthyosiform erythrodermia (BIIE) and some other conditions. Processes of terminal cell differentiation and epidermal keratinization are affected in all the above conditions. A decrease of transglutaminase activity is observed in L1, this being connected with mutations in chromosomes 14q, 2g33-35. In BIIE which is characterized by dense groups of tonofilaments in the suprabasal layer, mutations of keratin I and X coded by chromosomes 2 and 17 are identified. When sporadic forms of the disease occur, the main question is establishment of the genotype-phenotype correlation which depends on detailed characteristics of each patient and accurate study of the ultrastructural disturbances.

Harlequin fetus with abnormal lamellar granules and giant mitochondria.

A case of harlequin ichthyosis was studied with electron microscopy. From the basal cell to granular cell layers, keratinocytes contained giant mitochondria (860 nm) which exhibited vesicular cristae. Typical lamellar granules were absent; instead, numerous dense cored granules (DCG) and particles containing cored granules (PCG) were produced. Some of these were discharged into the intercellular spaces of granular cells, but the majority failed to be released from the cytoplasm. These retained DCG and PCG coalesced to form large vacuoles and cavities in the stratum corneum. In the hair follicle, keratinized cells failed to loosen and desquamate into the hair canal; instead, they formed concentric keratin rings surrounding hair, a diagnostic feature of this disease. It is suggested that the abnormal lamellar granule underlies the pathogenesis of this disease and that giant mitochondria may be related to an abnormal lipid metabolism of keratinocytes which may affect lipid composition of lamellar granules.