Adult onset immunodeficiency caused by inherited adenosine deaminase deficiency.

Abstract excerpt

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency is identified here as a cause of adult onset immunodeficiency. Two sisters who noted recurrent, predominantly chest infections in their twenties were found in their thirties to have CD4+ lymphopenia and lymphocyte ADA activity of approximately 5% of the lower limit of normal. Immune function, measured by proliferation of PBMCs in vitro to mitogens and specific Ags, was...