Find information on thousands of medical conditions and prescription drugs.

Adenosine deaminase deficiency

Adenosine deaminase deficiency, or ADA deficiency, is an inherited immunodeficiency syndrome accounting for about 25% of all cases of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). more...

Home
Diseases
A
Aagenaes syndrome
Aarskog Ose Pande syndrome
Aarskog syndrome
Aase Smith syndrome
Aase syndrome
ABCD syndrome
Abdallat Davis Farrage...
Abdominal aortic aneurysm
Abdominal cystic...
Abdominal defects
Ablutophobia
Absence of Gluteal muscle
Acalvaria
Acanthocheilonemiasis
Acanthocytosis
Acarophobia
Acatalasemia
Accessory pancreas
Achalasia
Achard syndrome
Achard-Thiers syndrome
Acheiropodia
Achondrogenesis
Achondrogenesis type 1A
Achondrogenesis type 1B
Achondroplasia
Achondroplastic dwarfism
Achromatopsia
Acid maltase deficiency
Ackerman syndrome
Acne
Acne rosacea
Acoustic neuroma
Acquired ichthyosis
Acquired syphilis
Acrofacial dysostosis,...
Acromegaly
Acrophobia
Acrospiroma
Actinomycosis
Activated protein C...
Acute febrile...
Acute intermittent porphyria
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Acute lymphocytic leukemia
Acute mountain sickness
Acute myelocytic leukemia
Acute myelogenous leukemia
Acute necrotizing...
Acute promyelocytic leukemia
Acute renal failure
Acute respiratory...
Acute tubular necrosis
Adams Nance syndrome
Adams-Oliver syndrome
Addison's disease
Adducted thumb syndrome...
Adenoid cystic carcinoma
Adenoma
Adenomyosis
Adenosine deaminase...
Adenosine monophosphate...
Adie syndrome
Adrenal incidentaloma
Adrenal insufficiency
Adrenocortical carcinoma
Adrenogenital syndrome
Adrenoleukodystrophy
Aerophobia
Agoraphobia
Agrizoophobia
Agyrophobia
Aicardi syndrome
Aichmophobia
AIDS
AIDS Dementia Complex
Ainhum
Albinism
Albright's hereditary...
Albuminurophobia
Alcaptonuria
Alcohol fetopathy
Alcoholic hepatitis
Alcoholic liver cirrhosis
Alektorophobia
Alexander disease
Alien hand syndrome
Alkaptonuria
Alliumphobia
Alopecia
Alopecia areata
Alopecia totalis
Alopecia universalis
Alpers disease
Alpha 1-antitrypsin...
Alpha-mannosidosis
Alport syndrome
Alternating hemiplegia
Alzheimer's disease
Amaurosis
Amblyopia
Ambras syndrome
Amelogenesis imperfecta
Amenorrhea
American trypanosomiasis
Amoebiasis
Amyloidosis
Amyotrophic lateral...
Anaphylaxis
Androgen insensitivity...
Anemia
Anemia, Diamond-Blackfan
Anemia, Pernicious
Anemia, Sideroblastic
Anemophobia
Anencephaly
Aneurysm
Aneurysm
Aneurysm of sinus of...
Angelman syndrome
Anguillulosis
Aniridia
Anisakiasis
Ankylosing spondylitis
Ankylostomiasis
Annular pancreas
Anorchidism
Anorexia nervosa
Anosmia
Anotia
Anthophobia
Anthrax disease
Antiphospholipid syndrome
Antisocial personality...
Antithrombin deficiency,...
Anton's syndrome
Aortic aneurysm
Aortic coarctation
Aortic dissection
Aortic valve stenosis
Apert syndrome
Aphthous stomatitis
Apiphobia
Aplastic anemia
Appendicitis
Apraxia
Arachnoiditis
Argininosuccinate...
Argininosuccinic aciduria
Argyria
Arnold-Chiari malformation
Arrhythmogenic right...
Arteriovenous malformation
Arteritis
Arthritis
Arthritis, Juvenile
Arthrogryposis
Arthrogryposis multiplex...
Asbestosis
Ascariasis
Aseptic meningitis
Asherman's syndrome
Aspartylglycosaminuria
Aspergillosis
Asphyxia neonatorum
Asthenia
Asthenia
Asthenophobia
Asthma
Astrocytoma
Ataxia telangiectasia
Atelectasis
Atelosteogenesis, type II
Atherosclerosis
Athetosis
Atopic Dermatitis
Atrial septal defect
Atrioventricular septal...
Atrophy
Attention Deficit...
Autoimmune hepatitis
Autoimmune...
Automysophobia
Autonomic dysfunction
Familial Alzheimer disease
Senescence
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Medicines

This disease is due to a lack of the enzyme adenosine deaminase coded for by a gene on chromosome 20. There is an accumulation of dATP, which causes an increase in S-adenosylhomocysteine; both substances are toxic to immature lymphoid cells, so fail to reach maturity. As a result, the immune system of the afflicted person is severely compromised or completely lacking.

The enzyme adenosine deaminase is important for purine metabolism.

Treatment

  • bone marrow transplant
  • gene therapy (efforts halted due to increased incidence of leukemia)
  • ADA enzyme in PEG vehicle

The first gene therapy to combat this disease was performed by Dr. W. French Anderson on a 4yr old girl, Ashanti DeSilva, in 14 September 1990 at the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.

The therapy performed was the first successful case of gene therapy.

Read more at Wikipedia.org


[List your site here Free!]


Early results of gene therapy encouraging - being tested as a treatment for immune deficiency
From Science News, 12/22/90 by Rick Weiss

Early Results of Gene Therapy Encouraging

Less than months after she received the first federally approved infusion of genetically engineered cells to cure a disease, a young girl with a life-threatening immune deficiency shows signs of improvement, researchers reported last week. National Institute of Health (NIH) gene therapist W. French Anderson told an FDA panel that preliminary findings leave him "cautiously optimistic" the novel therapy is working.

But Anderson also told reporters that related studies, in which cancer patients will receive genetically enhanced tumor-killing cells, remain stalled because of a technical problems and because of a previously unpublicized "hold" placed on the procedure by some FDA revieweres who -- despite the agency's approval last month -- remain concerned about a potential risk of the experimental procedure.

Speaking before the FDA's Biological Response Modifiers Advisory Committee in Rockville, Md., Anderson and NIH co-worker R. Michael Blaese provided the first public progress report for a four-year-old girl with an inherited immune disrder called ADA deficiency (SN: 9/22/90, p.180). To date, she has received four infusions of gene-altered white blood cells. The researchers reported that for the first time in her life, the youngster's bloodstream now contains normal numbers of disease-fighting T cell, a kind of white blood cell normally destroyed in victims of ADA deficiency.

Anderson noted that her improved white cell count could not have resulted from the mere addition of the laboratory-reared cells; the number of white blood cells circulating in her body has doubled since she received a number of cells equal to about 10 percent of her original count. This suggests the engineered cells are somehow nurturing the girl's handicapped white blood cells, perhaps by secreting growth factors that her own cells cannot make.

Blaese says tests indicate the engineered cells, which live in the girl's circulation for at least three weeks after aach infusion, may have a survival advantage over ADA-crippled cells -- a finding researchers had hope to see. He says other measures of the girl's immune status, while "not discouraging," remain too preliminary to release. The girl remains healthy and a second child with the same disease may begin receiving the same treatment in January, Blaese says.

Clinical trials of a similar genetic therapy for malignant melanoma could begin within the next three weeks, Anderson told the FDA committee. But he also noted that the team performing the therapy, which is led by Steven A. Rosenberg of NIH and includes Anderson and Blaese, had experienced problems getting patients' gene-altered cells to grow properly in culture. The cells have been engineered to produce supplemental quantities of a naturally occurring cancer-fighting compound called tumor necrosis factor (TNF).

Anderson also revealed that the FDA's highly publicized "approval" of the cancer procedure in November included a proviso requiring the resolution of certain unanswered questions before the first infusions begin. As of this week, the FDA's hold remains in effect, Anderson told SCIENCE NEWS. He said the agency wants to know how much TNF produced by the engineered cells remains bound to those cells' outer membranes. Most of the altered cells get trapped and destroyed by the liver before ever reaching the tumor site, Anderson notes. He says some FDA reviewers worried that if large amounts of TNF remain bound to the membranes of cells captured by the liver, then toxic TNF concentrations could build up in that organ.

Jay J. Greenblatt, chief of the National Cancer Institute's drug regulatory affairs section, says the Rosenberg team this week provided the FDA with new evidence that very little TNF remains membrane bound, suggesting the therapy poses little risk of liver damage. He suspects the first infusion into cancer patients may begin during the first week of January.

COPYRIGHT 1990 Science Service, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

Return to Adenosine deaminase deficiency
Home Contact Resources Exchange Links ebay