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Case Reports
. 2023 Apr 14;12(1):1998.
doi: 10.4102/ajlm.v12i1.1998. eCollection 2023.

Neonatal presentation of a patient with Liddle syndrome, South Africa

Nicolene Steyn  1   2 , Bettina Chale-Matsau  1   2 , Aron B Abera  3 , Gertruida van Biljon  2   4 , Tahir S Pillay  1   2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Neonatal presentation of a patient with Liddle syndrome, South Africa

Nicolene Steyn et al. Afr J Lab Med. .

Abstract

Introduction: Liddle syndrome is an autosomal dominantly inherited disorder usually arising from single mutations of the genes that encode for the alpha, beta and gamma epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) subunits. This leads to refractory hypertension, hypokalaemia, metabolic alkalosis, hyporeninaemia and hypoaldosteronism, through over-activation of the ENaC.

Case presentation: We describe a 5-day old neonate who presented with severe hypernatraemic dehydration requiring admission to Steve Biko Academic Hospital in South Africa in 2012. Further evaluation revealed features in keeping with Liddle syndrome. Two compound heterozygous mutations located at different subunits encoding the ENaC were detected following genetic sequencing done in 2020. The severe clinical phenotype observed here could be attributed to the synergistic effect of these known pathological mutations, but may also indicate that one of the other variants detected has hitherto undocumented pathological effects.

Management and outcome: This child's treatment course was complicated by poor adherence to therapy, requiring numerous admissions over the years. Adequate blood pressure control was achieved only after the addition of amiloride at the end of 2018, which raised the suspicion of an ENaC abnormality.

Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first Liddle syndrome case where a combined effect from mutations resulted in severe disease. This highlights the importance of early recognition and management of this highly treatable genetic disease to prevent the grave sequelae associated with long-standing hypertension. Whole exome sequencing may assist in the detection of known mutations, but may also unveil new potentially pathological variants.

What this study adds: This study highlights the importance of developing a high index of suspicion of tubulopathy such as Liddle syndrome for any child presenting with persistent hypertension associated with hypokalaemic metabolic alkalosis.

Keywords: Liddle syndrome; epithelial sodium channels; genetic sequencing; hypertension; hypoaldosteronism; hyporeninaemia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Sanger Sequencing electropherogram results of subunits SCNN1A and SCNN1B of the ENaC indicating mutations (arrow). (a) Sequence electropherogram showing a heterozygous c.1000G>A mutation (chr12:6355415 [GRCh38.p14]) in exon 5 of SCNN1A. (b) Sequence electropherogram showing a heterozygous c.1987A>G mutation (chr12:6347896 [GRCh38.p14]) in exon 13 of SCNN1A. (c) Sequence electropherogram showing a heterozygous of SCNN1A c.7G>A (chr16:23348606 [GRCh38.p14] in exon 2 of SCNN1B. (d) Sequence electropherogram showing a heterozygous c1325G>T mutation (chr16:23377219 [GRCh38.p14]) in exon 9 of SCNN1B.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Renin-angiotensin aldosterone system physiology.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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