Acrodermatitis enteropathica, zinc-deficiency type

Actionability Pediatric Summary Report

Secondary Findings in Pediatric Subjects. Non-diagnostic, excludes newborn screening & prenatal testing/screening.

• Gene: SLC39A4 (HGNC:17129)
• Mode(s) of Inheritance: Autosomal Recessive
• Literature Search: 07/09/2018
• Curation Status: Released (1.2.4)

Assertions and Scores

Actionability Assertions

Gene	Condition (MONDO ID)	OMIM ID	Final Assertion
SLC39A4	acrodermatitis enteropathica (0008713)	201100	Strong Actionability

Actionability Assertion Rationale

• All experts agreed with the assertion computed according to the rubric.

Actionability Scores

Outcome / Intervention Pair	Severity	Likelihood	Effectiveness	Nature of Intervention	Total Score
Morbidity and mortality associated with zinc deficiency / Zinc supplementation	2	3C	3C	3	11CC

Severity of Outcome

Prevalence of the Genetic Condition

The only data available suggests an incidence of 1:500,000 births in Denmark. The condition appears to be more common in the North-West of Tunisia, sub-Saharan Africa, and South East Asia.

Clinical Features (Signs / symptoms)

Acrodermatitis enteropathica (AEZ) is characterized by zinc malabsorption due to pathogenic variants in SLC39A4, a gene encoding a zinc transporter. Patients have low plasma zinc concentrations, and low levels of serum alkaline phosphatase. AEZ initially manifests as skin lesions. These typically are eczematous pink scaly plaques that can become pustular, vesiculobullous, psoriasisform, or crusted, appearing in the acral, periorificial, and anogenital areas. If treatment is not initiated, they may evolve into erosions and are susceptible to secondary infection. Other observed manifestations include diarrhea, generalized alopecia, Beau-Reil nail lines, paronychia, conjunctivitis, blepharitis, and erythematous oral mucous membranes. Prolonged zinc deficiency leads to failure to thrive, mental slowness, photophobia, hypogeusia, anemia, poor wound healing, hypogonadism (males), and delayed puberty.

Natural History (Important subgroups & survival / recovery)

AEZ usually presents in the first 4-10 weeks of life in infants that are not breast-fed, and around the time of weaning in breast-fed infants. However, there are case reports of breast-fed infants with earlier onset due to the heterozygous status of the mother and thus likely reduced zinc content in the breast milk. Left untreated, AEZ results in generalized organic failure and death prior to adulthood, with most reported deaths occurring before age 12.

Likelihood of Outcome

Mode of Inheritance

Autosomal Recessive

Prevalence of Genetic Variants

Unknown

No information on prevalence of pathogenic variants in SLC39A4 was identified.

Penetrance (Includes any high-risk racial or ethnic subgroups)

Unknown

The risk to develop AEZ is 100% in homozygotes or compound heterozygotes, though it may be masked by breast milk consumption.

Tier 4

>= 40 %

In a large historical review of case reports (n = 179) of AEZ, most of which were not confirmed to meet clinical criteria for hereditary disease on the basis of zinc therapy withdrawal, 34 out of 51 untreated patients experienced a lethal outcome.

Tier 3

>= 40 %

In a case series of 29 patients meeting clinical criteria (relapse after withdrawal of zinc) for hereditary AEZ, the following clinical signs were reported at initial consult:

-Mucosal signs: 19/29 (66%)

-Phanere affections (complete alopecia of the scalp, eyelashes, and eyebrows): 15/29 (52%)

-Diarrhea: 15/29 (52%)

-Neuropsychiatric disorders: 13/29 (45%)

Tier 3

Expressivity

No genotype-phenotype correlations have been observed.

Tier 3

Intervention Effectiveness

Patient Management

AEZ patients require lifelong oral zinc supplementation. Any interruption of the therapy will inevitably induce a relapse. However, with adherence to lifelong zinc supplementation, prognosis is good with resolution of symptoms in days or weeks.

Tier 3

In a case series of 29 AEZ patients diagnosed based on clinical criteria (mean age of onset 6.9 months; genotypic confirmation in 13 patients), 26 were treated with zinc sulfate and 3 with zinc gluconate at a dose of 5-10 mg/kg/d. In all cases, the changes were quick and positive with complete healing of the cutaneous lesions within three weeks. The monitoring period ranged from 7 to 24 years for 26 of these patients. No patients experienced any growth failure or intellectual delay. The other three patients were lost to follow-up (n = 2) or died after irregular treatment and onset of infection (n = 1). No growth failure or intellectual delay was observed after treatment. In one patient where treatment was repeatedly interrupted, 5 separate relapses were induced. Three patients had relapses during adolescence, despite regular treatment, and required higher doses. In a large historical review of case reports (n = 179) of AEZ, most of which were not confirmed to meet clinical criteria for hereditary disease on the basis of zinc therapy withdrawal, 34 out of 51 untreated patients experienced a lethal outcome, whereas only 2 of 128 patients who were treated with zinc therapy experienced a lethal outcome.

Tier 5

Surveillance

Zinc and copper levels should be monitored regularly. Regular clinical and biological follow-up of the patients enables adaptation of the dose of zinc supplement to possible physiological (e.g., adolescence, pregnancy), or pathological (e.g., inflammatory states) variations in zinc levels.

Tier 4

Nature of Intervention

Nature of Intervention

Treatment includes oral zinc supplementation. In a case series following 26 AEZ patients from 7 to 24 years (13 patients followed more than 10 years), treatment with zinc sulfate or zinc gluconate was well-tolerated with no reported side effects.

Context: Pediatric

Chance to Escape Clinical Detection

Establishing a diagnosis of AEZ is not very easy because of the rarity of the disease, which often leads to a long diagnostic delay. Clinical and biochemical diagnostic methods are rarely sufficient to establish a definitive diagnosis, because acquired zinc deficiency causes are varied and not always obvious to determine.

Context: Pediatric

Tier 4

Gene Condition Association

Gene			Condition Associations
			OMIM Identifier	Primary MONDO Identifier	Additional MONDO Identifiers
			SLC39A4			201100	0008713

References List

ACRODERMATITIS ENTEROPATHICA, ZINC-DEFICIENCY TYPE; AEZ. Online Medelian Inheritance in Man, OMIM®. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. MIM: 201100, (2016) World Wide Web URL: http://omim.org/

Acrodermatitis enteropathica. Orphanet encyclopedia, http://www.orpha.net/consor/cgi-bin/OC_Exp.php?lng=en&Expert=37

Kharfi M, El Fekih N, Aounallah-Skhiri H, Schmitt S, Fazaa B, Kury S, Kamoun MR. (2010) Acrodermatitis enteropathica: a review of 29 Tunisian cases. International journal of dermatology. 49(9):1038-44.

Kury S, Kharfi M, Blouin E, Schmitt S, Bezieau S. (2016) Clinical utility gene card for: acrodermatitis enteropathica - update 2015. European journal of human genetics : EJHG. 24(5).

Van Wouwe JP. (1989) Clinical and laboratory diagnosis of acrodermatitis enteropathica. European journal of pediatrics. 149(1):2-8.