title: Alpha 1-antitrypsin phenotype: transient cathodal shift in serum of infant girl with urinary cytomegalovirus and fatty liver.
abstract: A 2-month-old white girl had severe liver disease (but without signs of hepatic necrosis, infection or cirrhosis), urinary cytomegalovirus, transient reduction of alpha 1-antitrypsin concentration and transient abnormal alpha 1-antitrypsin phenotype that were not present in her parents. Five serum specimens that were obtained during the 11/2 months of acute phase liver disease indicated, by polyacrylamide gel isoelectric focusing (PAG-IEF), acid starch gel and agarose electrophoresis as well as immunofixation, an unusual alpha 1-antitrypsin phenotype that we labeled delta (delta). It migrated adjacent to Z, i.e., cathodal of Z and Zpratt on PAG-IEF; anodal of Z but cathodal of X, S, Zpratt on starch gel. We labeled the girl's complete phenotype M delta. After clinical recovery, her phenotype was MM and identical to that of her parents. Hepatic electronmicroscopy of the acute phase specimen showed dilated bile canaliculi. We observed the following in hepatocytes: clusters of globular inclusions surrounded by myelin sheets that, to a lesser extent, also appeared in the liver of CMV-infected children with phenotype MM; dilated endoplasmic reticulum cisternae that contained floccular material; and marked steatosis. These changes were less severe in the convalescent liver specimen.
mesh_terms: D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000382:microbiology; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008099:Liver / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010641:Phenotype; D014556:Urine / Q000382:microbiology; D000515:alpha 1-Antitrypsin / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D019896:alpha 1-Antitrypsin Deficiency
chemical_list: D000515:alpha 1-Antitrypsin