New Insights into Immunological Involvement in Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDG) from a People-Centric Approach

• Main Authors: Rita Francisco, Carlota Pascoal, Dorinda Marques-da-Silva, Sandra Brasil, Fernando M. Pimentel-Santos, Ruqaiah Altassan, Jaak Jaeken, Ana Rita Grosso, Vanessa dos Reis Ferreira, Paula A. Videira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
• Series: Journal of Clinical Medicine
• Subjects: congenital disorder(s) of glycosylation (CDG); PMM2-CDG; immune response; infections; allergies; vaccination
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/9/7/2092

Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are rare diseases with variable phenotypes and severity. Immunological involvement remains a largely uncharted topic in CDG, mainly due to lack of robust data. To better characterize immune-related manifestations’ prevalence, relevance, and quality-of-life (QoL) impact, we developed electronic questionnaires targeting (1) CDG patients and (2) the general “healthy” population. Two-hundred and nine CDG patients/caregivers and 349 healthy participants were included in this study. PMM2-CDG was the most represented CDG (<i>n</i> = 122/209). About half of these participants (<i>n</i> = 65/122) described relevant infections with a noteworthy prevalence of those affecting the gastrointestinal tract (GI) (63.1%, <i>n</i> = 41/65). Infection burden and QoL impact were shown as infections correlated with more severe clinical phenotypes and with a set of relevant non-immune PMM2-CDG signs. Autoimmune diseases had only a marginal presence in PMM2-CDG (2.5%, <i>n</i> = 3/122), all being GI-related. Allergy prevalence was also low in PMM2-CDG (33%, <i>n</i> = 41/122) except for food allergies (26.8%, <i>n</i> = 11/41, of PMM2-CDG and 10.8%, <i>n</i> = 17/158, of controls). High vaccination compliance with greater perceived ineffectiveness (28.3%, <i>n</i> = 17/60) and more severe adverse reactions were described in PMM2-CDG. This people-centric approach not only confirmed literature findings, but created new insights into immunological involvement in CDG, namely by highlighting the possible link between the immune and GI systems in PMM2-CDG. Finally, our results emphasized the importance of patient/caregiver knowledge and raised several red flags about immunological management.