A girl with MIRAGE syndrome who developed steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome: a case report

Background MIRAGE syndrome is a recently discovered rare genetic disease characterized by myelodysplasia (M), infection (I), growth restriction (R), adrenal hypoplasia (A), genital phenotypes (G), and enteropathy (E), caused by a gain-of-function mutation in the SAMD9 gene. We encountered a girl with molecularly-confirmed MIRAGE syndrome who developed steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome. Case presentation She was born at 33 weeks gestational age with a birth weight of 1064 g. She showed growth failure, mild developmental delays, intractable enteropathy and recurrent pneumonia. She was diagnosed as MIRAGE syndrome by whole exome sequencing and a novel SAMD9 variant (c.4615 T > A, p.Leu1539Ile) was identified at age four. Biopsied skin fibroblast cells showed changes in the endosome system that are characteristic of MIRAGE syndrome, supporting the genetic diagnosis. Proteinuria was noted at age one, following nephrotic syndrome at age five. A renal biopsy showed focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) with immune deposits. Steroid treatment was ineffective. Because we speculated that her nephrosis was a result of genetic FSGS, we decided not to introduce immunosuppressive agents and instead started enalapril to reduce proteinuria. Although her proteinuria persisted, her renal function was normal at age eight. Conclusions This is the first detailed report of a MIRAGE syndrome patient with nephrotic syndrome. Because patients with MIRAGE syndrome have structural abnormalities in the endosomal system, we speculate that dysfunction of endocytosis in podocytes might be a possible mechanism for proteinuria.