Neonatal multiorgan failure due to ACAD9 mutation and complex I deficiency with mitochondrial hyperplasia in liver, cardiac myocytes, skeletal muscle, and renal tubules

SummaryComplex I deficiency causes Leigh syndrome, fatal infant lactic acidosis, and neonatal cardiomyopathy. Mutations in more than 100 nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA genes miscode for complex I subunits or assembly factors. ACAD9 is an acyl-CoA dehydrogenase with a novel function in assembly of complex I; biallelic mutations cause progressive encephalomyopathy, recurrent Reye syndrome, and fatal cardiomyopathy. We describe the first autopsy in fatal neonatal lethal lactic acidosis due to mutations in ACAD9 that reduced complex I activity. We identified mitochondrial hyperplasia in cardiac myocytes, diaphragm muscle, and liver and renal tubules in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue using immunohistochemistry for mitochondrial antigens. Whole-exome sequencing revealed compound heterozygous variants in the ACAD9 gene: c.187G>T (p.E63*) and c.941T>C (p.L314P). The nonsense mutation causes late infantile lethality; the missense variant is novel. Autopsy-derived fibroblasts had reduced complex I activity (53% of control) with normal activity in complexes II to IV, similar to reported cases of ACAD9 deficiency.