MedGen

Citrin deficiency can manifest in newborns or infants as neonatal intrahepatic cholestasis caused by citrin deficiency (NICCD), in older children as failure to thrive and dyslipidemia caused by citrin deficiency (FTTDCD), and in adults as recurrent hyperammonemia with neuropsychiatric symptoms in citrullinemia type II (CTLN2). Often citrin deficiency is characterized by strong preference for protein-rich and/or lipid-rich foods and aversion to carbohydrate-rich foods. NICCD. Children younger than age one year have a history of low birth weight with growth restriction and transient intrahepatic cholestasis, hepatomegaly, diffuse fatty liver, and parenchymal cellular infiltration associated with hepatic fibrosis, variable liver dysfunction, hypoproteinemia, decreased coagulation factors, hemolytic anemia, and/or hypoglycemia. NICCD is generally not severe and symptoms often resolve by age one year with appropriate treatment, although liver transplantation has been required in rare instances. FTTDCD. Beyond age one year, many children with citrin deficiency develop a protein-rich and/or lipid-rich food preference and aversion to carbohydrate-rich foods. Clinical abnormalities may include growth restriction, hypoglycemia, pancreatitis, severe fatigue, anorexia, and impaired quality of life. Laboratory changes are dyslipidemia, increased lactate-to-pyruvate ratio, higher levels of urinary oxidative stress markers, and considerable deviation in tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolites. One or more decades later, some individuals with NICCD or FTTDCD develop CTLN2. CTLN2. Presentation is sudden and usually between ages 20 and 50 years. Manifestations are recurrent hyperammonemia with neuropsychiatric symptoms including nocturnal delirium, aggression, irritability, hyperactivity, delusions, disorientation, restlessness, drowsiness, loss of memory, flapping tremor, convulsive seizures, and coma. Symptoms are often provoked by alcohol and sugar intake, medication, and/or surgery. Affected individuals may or may not have a prior history of NICCD or FTTDCD. [from GeneReviews]

The signs and symptoms of PFIC2 are typically related to liver disease only; however, these signs and symptoms tend to be more severe than those experienced by people with PFIC1. People with PFIC2 often develop liver failure within the first few years of life. Additionally, affected individuals are at increased risk of developing a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma.

In addition to signs and symptoms related to liver disease, people with PFIC1 may have short stature, deafness, diarrhea, inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), and low levels of fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) in the blood. Affected individuals typically develop liver failure before adulthood.

Most people with PFIC3 have signs and symptoms related to liver disease only. Signs and symptoms of PFIC3 usually do not appear until later in infancy or early childhood; rarely, people are diagnosed in early adulthood. Liver failure can occur in childhood or adulthood in people with PFIC3.

There are three known types of PFIC: PFIC1, PFIC2, and PFIC3. The types are also sometimes described as shortages of particular proteins needed for normal liver function. Each type has a different genetic cause.

Signs and symptoms of PFIC typically begin in infancy and are related to bile buildup and liver disease. Specifically, affected individuals experience severe itching, yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), failure to gain weight and grow at the expected rate (failure to thrive), high blood pressure in the vein that supplies blood to the liver (portal hypertension), and an enlarged liver and spleen (hepatosplenomegaly).

Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) is a disorder that causes progressive liver disease, which typically leads to liver failure. In people with PFIC, liver cells are less able to secrete a digestive fluid called bile. The buildup of bile in liver cells causes liver disease in affected individuals. [from MedlinePlus Genetics]

In general, gallbladder disease (GBD) is one of the major digestive diseases. GBD prevalence is particularly high in some minority populations in the United States, including Native and Mexican Americans. Gallstones composed of cholesterol (cholelithiasis) are the common manifestations of GBD in western countries, including the United States. Most people with gallstones remain asymptomatic through their lifetimes; however, it is estimated that approximately 10 to 50% of individuals eventually develop symptoms. Significant risk factors associated with GBD are age, female sex, obesity (especially central obesity), lipids, diet, parity, type 2 diabetes (125853), medications, and Mexican American ethnicity. GBD appears to be strongly related to the metabolic syndrome (605552) and/or its major components, such as hyperinsulinism, dyslipidemia, and abdominal adiposity (Boland et al., 2002; Tsai et al., 2004). Infection, specifically by Helicobacter, has been implicated in cholelithiasis and cholecystitis (Silva et al., 2003; Maurer et al., 2005). Low phospholipid-associated cholelithiasis is a specific form of gallbladder disease characterized by young-adult onset of chronic cholestasis with intrahepatic sludge and cholesterol cholelithiasis. Affected individuals have recurrence of the disorder after cholecystectomy and show a favorable response to treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) (summary by Pasmant et al., 2012). Mutation in the ABCB4 gene can cause a spectrum of related diseases, including the more severe progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis-3 (PFIC3; 602347), intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy-3 (ICP3; 614972), andoral contraceptive-induced cholestasis (OCIC; see 614972). Genetic Heterogeneity of Gallbladder Disease Two major susceptibility loci for symptomatic gallbladder disease have been identified on chromosome 1p in Mexican Americans (GBD2, 609918; GBD3, 609919). In addition, variations in the ABCG8 gene (605460) on chromosome 2p21 confer susceptibility to gallbladder disease (GBD4; 611465). [from OMIM]

Immunodeficiency-90 with encephalopathy, functional hyposplenia, and hepatic dysfunction (IMD90) is a autosomal recessive complex immunologic disorder with systemic manifestations in addition to primary immunodeficiency. Affected individuals usually present in infancy or early childhood with recurrent fevers and bacterial or viral infections associated with central nervous system symptoms, including irritability, drowsiness, variable seizures, and white matter abnormalities on brain imaging. There is also liver involvement and functional hyposplenism, causing increased susceptibility to invasive pneumococcal infection, which may be fatal. Susceptibility to viral infections likely results from impaired interferon immunity, and bacterial infections likely result from splenic dysfunction. A subset of patients have congenital cardiac malformations. Most individuals demonstrate developmental delay and speech delay. Laboratory findings in affected individuals are similar to those seen in autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS; 601859), including high-circulating CD4-/CD8-/TCR-alpha-beta+ (double-negative) T-cell (DNT) counts, and elevated IL10 (124092) and FASL (TNFSF6; 134638) levels, but the clinical features are somewhat different from ALPS: massive lymphadenopathy and autoimmune features are not observed in IMD90 (summary by Bolze et al., 2010, Savic et al., 2015 and Kohn et al., 2020). [from OMIM]

MED12-related disorders include the phenotypes of FG syndrome type 1 (FGS1), Lujan syndrome (LS), X-linked Ohdo syndrome (XLOS), Hardikar syndrome (HS), and nonspecific intellectual disability (NSID). FGS1 and LS share the clinical findings of cognitive impairment, hypotonia, and abnormalities of the corpus callosum. FGS1 is further characterized by absolute or relative macrocephaly, tall forehead, downslanted palpebral fissures, small and simple ears, constipation and/or anal anomalies, broad thumbs and halluces, and characteristic behavior. LS is further characterized by large head, tall thin body habitus, long thin face, prominent nasal bridge, high narrow palate, and short philtrum. Carrier females in families with FGS1 and LS are typically unaffected. XLOS is characterized by intellectual disability, blepharophimosis, and facial coarsening. HS has been described in females with cleft lip and/or cleft palate, biliary and liver anomalies, intestinal malrotation, pigmentary retinopathy, and coarctation of the aorta. Developmental and cognitive concerns have not been reported in females with HS. Pathogenic variants in MED12 have been reported in an increasing number of males and females with NSID, with affected individuals often having clinical features identified in other MED12-related disorders. [from GeneReviews]

Severe congenital liver disease (SCOLIV) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by the onset of progressive hepatic dysfunction usually in the first years of life. Affected individuals show feeding difficulties with failure to thrive and features such as jaundice, hepatomegaly, and abdominal distension. Laboratory workup is consistent with hepatic insufficiency and may also show coagulation defects, anemia, or metabolic disturbances. Cirrhosis and hypernodularity are commonly observed on liver biopsy. Many patients die of liver failure in early childhood (Moreno Traspas et al., 2022). [from OMIM]