Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial diseases (MSMD) is a rare clinical syndrome characterized by vulnerability to weakly virulent mycobacterial species, including Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccines and environmental mycobacteria.
We performed a systematic review of the genetic, immunological, and clinical findings for reported MSMD patients.
We searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases for publications in English relating to MSMD. All full texts were evaluated for eligibility for inclusion. Two reviewers independently selected the publications, with a third reviewer consulted in cases of disagreement.
A primary systematic search and searches of other resources identified 16,155 articles. In total, 158 articles from 63 countries were included in qualitative and quantitative analyses. In total, 830 patients – 436 males (52.5%), 369 females (44.5%), and 25 patients of unknown sex (3.0%) – from 581 families were evaluated. A positive family history was reported in 347 patients (45.5%). The patients had a mean age of 10.41 ± 0.42 (standard error of the mean) years. The frequency of MSMD was highest in Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Lymphadenopathy was the most common clinical manifestation of MSMD, reported in 378 (45.5%) cases and multifocal in 35.1%. Fever, organomegaly, and sepsis were the next most frequent findings, reported in 251 (30.2%), 206 (24.8%), and 171 (20.8%) cases, respectively. In total, 299 unique mutations in 21 genes known to be involved in MSMD were reported: 100 missense (34%), 80 indel-frameshift (insertion or deletion, 27%), 53 nonsense (18%), 35 splice site (12%), 10 indel-in frame (2.7%), 6 indel (2%) and 15 large deletion/duplication mutations. Finally, 61% of the reported MSMD patients had mutations of IL12RB1 (41%) or IFNGR1 (20%). At the time of the report, 177 of the patients (21.3%) were dead, and 597 (71.9%) were still alive.
MSMD is associated with a high mortality rate, mostly due to impaired control of infection. Pre-exposure strategies, such as changes in vaccination policy in endemic areas, the establishment of a worldwide registry of MSMD patients, and precise follow-up over generations in affected families, appear to be vital, to decrease MSMD-related mortality.
Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.
