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Laboratory features

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

The laboratory picture is one of severe immune deficiency:

  • serum immunoglobulins usually less than 1% of normal
  • failure to produce antibodies in response to vaccinations such as DTP
  • peripheral lymphocyte count less than 2000 per microlitre
  • failure to mount a delayed-type hypersensitivity response to antigens
  • absence of lymphocytes, plasma cells or lymphoid follicles in lymph nodes on biopsy
  • 50 % of cases with the autosomal recessive form of SCID lack adenosine deaminase (ADA) in their lymphocytes and erythrocytes - results in accumulation of metabolites such as deoxyadenosine and deoxy-ATP and consequent toxicity to lymphocytes; these patients can be diagnosed prenatally by assaying the level of adenosine deaminase in the chorionic villi

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