Establishment of immunity against Epstein‐Barr virus infection in a patient with CHARGE/complete DiGeorge syndrome after peripheral blood lymphocyte transfusion

Abstract

CHARGE syndrome is a rare congenital malformation syndrome which may share symptoms with DiGeorge syndrome. Complete DiGeorge syndrome (cDGS) is a severe form of DiGeorge syndrome, characterized by a CD3+ T‐cell count of <50/mm³ due to athymia, and is fatal without immunologic intervention. We performed peripheral blood lymphocyte transfusion (PBLT) from an HLA‐identical sibling without pretransplant conditioning in a CHARGE/cDGS patient with a novel CHD7 splice site mutation. Cyclosporine and short‐term methotrexate were used for graft versus host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis, and neither acute nor chronic GVHD was observed. After PBLT, T‐cell proliferative response to phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A recovered, and intractable diarrhea improved. EBV infection, evidenced by a gradual increase in the viral genome copy number to a maximum of 2861 copies/μgDNA on day 42 after PBLT, resolved spontaneously. HLA A2402 restricted, EBV‐specific CTLs were detected from peripheral blood on day 148, and EBV seroconversion was observed on day 181. Thus, EBV‐specific immunity was successfully established by PBLT. Our results indicate that PBLT is a simple and effective therapy to reconstitute immune systems in CHARGE/DiGeorge syndrome.