- Aluri, Jahnavi;
- Bach, Alicia;
- Kaviany, Saara;
- Chiquetto Paracatu, Luana;
- Kitcharoensakkul, Maleewan;
- Walkiewicz, Magdalena A;
- Putnam, Christopher D;
- Shinawi, Marwan;
- Saucier, Nermina;
- Rizzi, Elise M;
- Harmon, Michael T;
- Keppel, Molly P;
- Ritter, Michelle;
- Similuk, Morgan;
- Kulm, Elaine;
- Joyce, Michael;
- de Jesus, Adriana A;
- Goldbach-Mansky, Raphaela;
- Lee, Yi-Shan;
- Cella, Marina;
- Kendall, Peggy L;
- Dinauer, Mary C;
- Bednarski, Jeffrey J;
- Bemrich-Stolz, Christina;
- Canna, Scott W;
- Abraham, Shirley M;
- Demczko, Matthew M;
- Powell, Jonathan;
- Jones, Stacie M;
- Scurlock, Amy M;
- De Ravin, Suk See;
- Bleesing, Jack J;
- Connelly, James A;
- Rao, V Koneti;
- Schuettpelz, Laura G;
- Cooper, Megan A
Inborn errors of immunity (IEI) are a genetically heterogeneous group of disorders with a broad clinical spectrum. Identification of molecular and functional bases of these disorders is important for diagnosis, treatment, and an understanding of the human immune response. We identified 6 unrelated males with neutropenia, infections, lymphoproliferation, humoral immune defects, and in some cases bone marrow failure associated with 3 different variants in the X-linked gene TLR8, encoding the endosomal Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8). Interestingly, 5 patients had somatic variants in TLR8 with <30% mosaicism, suggesting a dominant mechanism responsible for the clinical phenotype. Mosaicism was also detected in skin-derived fibroblasts in 3 patients, demonstrating that mutations were not limited to the hematopoietic compartment. All patients had refractory chronic neutropenia, and 3 patients underwent allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. All variants conferred gain of function to TLR8 protein, and immune phenotyping demonstrated a proinflammatory phenotype with activated T cells and elevated serum cytokines associated with impaired B-cell maturation. Differentiation of myeloid cells from patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells demonstrated increased responsiveness to TLR8. Together, these findings demonstrate that gain-of-function variants in TLR8 lead to a novel childhood-onset IEI with lymphoproliferation, neutropenia, infectious susceptibility, B- and T-cell defects, and in some cases, bone marrow failure. Somatic mosaicism is a prominent molecular mechanism of this new disease.