Clinical Description
Deficiency of adenosine deaminase 2 (DADA2) is a systemic autoinflammatory disorder in which the three major manifestations are vasculitis, dysregulation of immune function, and hematologic disease [Hashem et al 2017b, Lee 2018, Meyts & Aksentijevich 2018]. Other clinical features include neurologic, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal involvement. Severe manifestations (e.g., strokes or ischemic injuries to tissues and/or organs) can cause disability and/or be life threatening. Prior to the discovery of the molecular pathogenesis of DADA2 and adequate therapies, death before age 30 years was reported in 8% of affected individuals [Hashem et al 2017b, Meyts & Aksentijevich 2018].
Phenotypic variability that cannot be fully explained by the effect of pathogenic variants on protein function can be observed in the same family; for example, one sib may have have early-childhood onset of manifestations whereas another may have later-childhood onset. Affected individuals homozygous for the same founder variant have variability in age of onset and in frequency and severity of manifestations [Van Montfrans et al 2016]. In a large family of Iraqi descent, four adults homozygous for the same pathogenic variant were symptom free despite low ADA2 activity [Nanthapisal et al 2016].
Vasculitis
The most frequent manifestations of DADA2 are related to arterial vasculopathy which often manifests as cutaneous lesions. Cutaneous manifestations, reported in more than 75% of affected individuals, include livedo racemosa/reticularis, polyarteritis nodosa (PAN), subcutaneous nodules, cutaneous ulcers, or lupus-like rash [Gonzalez Santiago et al 2015, Caorsi et al 2016, Skrabl-Baumgartner et al 2017].
Histopathologic findings of DADA2-associated PAN and PAN of unknown cause are the same: non-granulomatous, necrotizing vasculitis of small and medium-sized vessels. Sometimes less specific findings are interpreted as leukocytoclastic vasculitis. In younger individuals with livedoid rash, skin biopsy shows interstitial neutrophil and macrophage infiltration without overt vasculitis.
In one study, nine (15%) of 60 children with PAN, cutaneous PAN, unclassifiable vasculitis (UCV), young-onset chronic vasculitis, or history of stroke were found to have biallleic ADA2 pathogenic variants. Previous clinical diagnoses included PAN (5 children), UCV (3), and ANCA-associated vasculitis (1) [Gibson et al 2019].
Ischemic strokes are often observed in (but not limited to) the brain stem, thalamus, basal ganglia, and internal capsule [Bulut et al 2019]. These small infarcts, described as lacunar strokes, may not always be observable on MRI.
Over time accumulation of the effects of these small initially undetectable strokes can lead to severe neurologic impairments such as persistent dysarthria, ataxia, palsy of one or more cranial nerves, and cognitive impairment [Springer et al 2018].
Other neurologic manifestations can include the following:
Other effects of distal artery occlusion include peripheral vascular insufficiency, digital necrosis, and Raynaud phenomena [Navon Elkan et al 2014, Zhou et al 2014].
GI manifestations generally include abdominal pain and chronic gastritis. On rare occasions, intestinal necrosis, bowel perforation, and arterial stenosis are observed [Belot et al 2014, Batu et al 2015].
Hepatic disease involves hepatomegaly and splenomegaly that can lead to portal hypertension and associated esophageal varices. Histopathologic findings include evidence of nodular regenerative hyperplasia and/or hepatic sclerosis that can potentially lead to end-stage liver disease [Springer et al 2018].
Other organs with dense vascularization such as the kidney can be affected. Multiple aneurysmal dilatations and variation in the caliber of medium-small intrarenal arteries have been reported as well as renal artery stenosis and infarcts [Navon Elkan et al 2014, Nanthapisal et al 2016, Sahin et al 2018].
Dysregulation of Immune Function
General dysregulation of immune function can include immunodeficiency, lymphoproliferative disease, and autoimmune manifestations of varying severity.
Immunodeficiency. While the autoinflammatory phenotype was predominant in the initial description of DADA2, mild immunodeficiency was identified in five of nine patients in the cohort [Zhou et al 2014]. Intially it was not clear if immunodeficiency could be related to the use of immunosuppressive therapies; however, subsequently in the German cohort of 181 individuals with antibody deficiency and/or features of common variable immunodeficiency, eleven individuals were found to have DADA2 [Schepp et al 2016, Schepp et al 2017]; of these, four presented with immunodeficiency without vascular manifestations. To date the spectrum of immunodeficiency includes variable degrees of B-cell depletion and hypogammaglobulinemia. T-cell numbers are largely unaffected except in patients with bone marrow failure.
About 20% of individuals with DADA2 experience bacterial and/or viral infections resulting from immunodeficiency. Bacterial infections typicaly involve the upper- and lower-respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, and urinary tract. Viral infections have included recurrent herpes simplex infections, skin warts (caused by the human papilloma virus) [Arts et al 2018], and in one child, shingles (caused by the herpes zoster virus) [Ghurye et al 2019].
Although fungal and mycobacterial infections are unusual, they were observed in one individual with severe monocytopenia [Hsu et al 2016] and in two sibs with a contiguous gene deletion involving ADA2 and IL-17RA in whom recurrent fungal infections were attributed to IL-17R deficiency [Fellmann et al 2016].
Lymphoproliferative disease. Generalized lymphadenopathy is seen in more than 10% of affected individuals; splenomegaly is fairly common. The lymphoproliferative phenotype of DADA2 can include the following:
Autoimmune disease resembling systemic lupus erythematosus and autoimmune cytopenia was reported in two unrelated families [Schepp et al 2016, Skrabl-Baumgartner et al 2017].
Hematologic Disease
Hematopoietic complications include variably decreased numbers of leukocytes, platelets, and erythrocytes (including pure red cell aplasia [PRCA] similar to Blackfan-Diamond anemia), as well as pancytopenia due to complete bone marrow failure. A meta-analysis of published data on 161 individuals with DADA2 revealed anemia in 13%, neutropenia in 7%, and thrombocytopenia in 6%, whereas leukopenia, PRCA, NK cell deficiency, and pancytopenia were observed in fewer than 5% [Meyts & Aksentijevich 2018].
The initial clinical presentation in five children from four unrelated consanguineous families was PRCA and hemolytic anemia without manifestations of inflammation or vasculitis [Ben-Ami et al 2016].
Neutropenia was severe (i.e., low or absent absolute neutrophil counts) in two affected individuals [Hashem et al 2017a, Cipe et al 2018] and moderate but persistent in other affected individuals [Ghurye et al 2019].
Musculoskeletal Manifestations
About 40% of affected individuals have the following musculoskeletal manifestations: myalgia/arthralgia (22%), arthritis (14%), and myositis (1%) [Meyts & Aksentijevich 2018, Sahin et al 2020]. Musculoskeletal manifestations are often accompanied by other features of systemic inflammation, such as fevers and/or elevated acute-phase reactants.