Elevated Plasma 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D Concentrations in Infants with Hypercalcemia and an Elfin Facies

Abstract

We measured plasma concentrations of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25-(OH)2D) in the course of a 6-to-37-month survey of four children with hypercalcemia and an elfin facies (Williams syndrome). Levels of 1,25-(OH)2D were elevated (160 to 470 pg per milliliter) during the hypercalcemic phase of the disease, when the children were five to nine months old, and they decreased thereafter. Plasma 1,25 (OH)2D levels were higher than those found in three children (16 to 60 months old) with the elfin facies syndrome and no hypercalcemia (42 to 71 pg per milliliter) and eight children (1 to 36 months old) with hypercalcemia and no dysmorphy (12 to 140 pg per milliliter), including two children with vitamin D intoxication. Hypercalcemia in the three children with elfin facies was controlled by a low-calcium diet. Serum calcium levels fell to the normal range, and plasma 1,25-(OH)2D levels were normal for age (18 to 105 pg per milliliter) at 14 to 47 months of age, even after appropriate therapy had been discontinued. These observations suggest that hypercalcemia may be the consequence of abnormal synthesis or degradation of 1,25-(OH)2D in children with the elfin facies syndrome.