Abstract
Purpose
Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is the most serious form of primary immunodeficiency. Infants with SCID are susceptible to life-threatening infections. To establish newborn screening for SCID in Korea, we performed a screening test for T—cell receptor excision circle (TREC) and K-deleting recombination excision circle (KREC) in neonates and investigated the awareness of SCID among their parents.
Methods
Collections of dried blood spots from neonates and parent surveys were performed at the Samsung Medical Center and Cheil General Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center in Korea. The amplification crossing point (Cp) value <37.0 was defined as TREC/KREC—positive based on cutoff values from measuring multiplex realtime polymerase chain reaction. A Cp value >39.0 was defined as negative.
Results
ForTREC/KREC screening, 141 neonates were enrolled; 63 (44.7%) were male. One hundred forty neonates (99.3%) had positive TREC/KREC results at the time of the initial test; 82.3% and 75.9% were positive and 17.0% and 23.4% were weakly positive for TREC and KREC, respectively. In one neonate (0.7%), the initial TREC/KREC test result was negative. However, repeated tests obtained and confirmed a positive result. For an awareness survey, 168 parents were engaged. Only 2% of parents (3/168) knew that the newborn screening test for SCID had been introduced and performed in other countries. Eighty—four percent of parents (141/168) replied that nationwide newborn SCID screening should be performed in Korean newborns.
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Table 1.
Positive | Weak positive | Negative | |
---|---|---|---|
TREC | 83.0(117/141) | 17.0 (24/141) | 0(0/141)∗ |
KREC | 76.6 (108/141) | 23.4 (33/141) | 0 (0/141)∗ |
Values are presented as percentage (number). ∗In one neonate, initial TREC/KREC test result was negative (Cp:39.9/40.0). How ever, repeated test confirmed positive (Cp=37.8/37.2, TREC/KREC weak positive). Abbreviations: TREC, T-cell receptor excision circle; KREC, K-deleting recombination excision circle Cp, crossing point.