Abnormal pericyte recruitment as a cause for pulmonary hypertension in Adams-Oliver syndrome.
Adams-Oliver syndrome (AOS) consists of congenital scalp defects with variable limb defects of unknown pathogenesis. We report on two children with AOS plus additional features including intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), cutis marmorata telangiectatica congenita (CMTC), pulmonary hypertension (PH), intracranial densities shown in one case to be sites of active bleeding and osteopenia. Autopsy in one case revealed defective vascular smooth muscle cell/pericyte coverage of the vasculature associated with two blood vessel abnormalities. Pericyte absence correlated with vessel dilatation while hyperproliferation of pericytes correlated with vessel stenosis. These findings suggest a unifying pathogenic mechanism for the abnormalities seen in AOS. These and previously reported cases establish that a subset of AOS patients is at high risk for PH.
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Clinical and Metabolic Genetics, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Millan S
MS
Patel
Glenn P
GP
Taylor
Simi
S
Bharya
Nouriya
N
Al-Sanna'a
Ian
I
Adatia
David
D
Chitayat
M E
ME
Suzanne Lewis
Derek G
DG
Human
D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple / Q000473:pathology*; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000473:pathology; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000473:pathology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D017880:Limb Deformities, Congenital / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D020286:Pericytes / Q000473:pathology*; D012535:Scalp / Q000002:abnormalities*; D017445:Skin Diseases, Vascular / Q000473:pathology; D013577:Syndrome