Bruton's tyrosine kinase

From: Antony Bakke (bakkea@ohsu.edu)
Date: Tue Jan 26 1999 - 20:03:16 EST


We may have a case of misdiagnosed Bruton's or?  The patient has carried
this diagnosis for many years.  However, he has 4% CD20+ cells for an
absolute count of 110 cells/ microliter.  In addition, he has elevated
serum IgM levels, but almost no IgG and A.  It seems that hyper IgM would
be more likely.  I'd like to hear opinions from labs who assay for these
immunodeficiencies.  Is assaying for btk mutations to definitively rule
out Bruton's worth it?  I understand that some Bruton's can be "leaky"
and may have a few B cells, but this patient is low normal for B cells
and the elevated IgM seems to rule out Bruton's already.  Is this true?
Or would you pursue the hyper IgM diagnosis.  If so, what assays are
definitive?
 

Thank you for your help in advance.

Best regards,
Tony Bakke

Antony C. Bakke, Ph.D.
Director, Special Immunology
  and Flow Cytometry
Oregon Health Sciences University
Portland, OR
(503) 494-4687



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