Autosomal Dominant Hyper-IgE Syndrome – Immune System and Disorders

Your immune system is a complex network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to defend against germs. It helps your body to recognize these “foreign” invaders. Then its job is to keep them out, or if it can’t, to find and destroy them.

If your immune system cannot do its job, the results can be serious. Disorders of the immune system include

• Allergy and asthma – immune responses to substances that are usually not harmful
• Immune deficiency diseases – disorders in which the immune system is missing one or more of its parts
• Autoimmune diseases – diseases causing your immune system to attack your own body’s cells and tissues by mistake

NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

• Agammaglobulinemia (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Aging changes in immunity (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Chronic granulomatous disease (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Graft-versus-host disease (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Histiocytosis (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Immune response (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Immunodeficiency disorders (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Selective deficiency of IgA (Medical Encyclopedia)

Autosomal dominant hyper-IgE syndrome (AD-HIES), also known as Job syndrome, is a condition that affects several body systems, particularly the immune system. Recurrent infections are common in people with this condition. Affected individuals tend to have frequent bouts of pneumonia, which are caused by certain kinds of bacteria that infect the lungs and cause inflammation. These infections often result in the formation of air-filled cysts (pneumatoceles) in the lungs. Recurrent skin infections and an inflammatory skin disorder called eczema are also very common in AD-HIES. These skin problems cause rashes, blisters, accumulations of pus (abscesses), open sores, and scaling.AD-HIES is characterized by abnormally high levels of an immune system protein called immunoglobulin E (IgE) in the blood. IgE normally triggers an immune response against foreign invaders in the body, particularly parasitic worms, and plays a role in allergies. It is unclear why people with AD-HIES have such high levels of IgE.AD-HIES also affects other parts of the body, including the bones and teeth. Many people with AD-HIES have skeletal abnormalities such as an unusually large range of joint movement (hyperextensibility), an abnormal curvature of the spine (scoliosis), reduced bone density (osteopenia), and a tendency for bones to fracture easily. Dental abnormalities are also common in this condition. The primary (baby) teeth do not fall out at the usual time during childhood but are retained as the adult teeth grow in. Other signs and symptoms of AD-HIES can include abnormalities of the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle (coronary arteries), distinctive facial features, and structural abnormalities of the brain, which do not affect a person’s intelligence.