Congenital defects of bile acid synthesis are autosomal recessive disorders characterized by neonatal onset of progressive liver disease with cholestatic jaundice and malabsorption of lipids and lipid-soluble vitamins from the gastrointestinal tract resulting from a primary failure to synthesize bile acids. Affected infants show failure to thrive and secondary coagulopathy. In most forms of the disorder, there is a favorable response to oral bile acid therapy (summary by Cheng et al., 2003). Genetic Heterogeneity of Congenital Defects in Bile Acid Synthesis There are several disorders that result from defects in bile acid synthesis. See CBAS2 (235555), caused by mutation in the delta(4)-3-oxosteroid 5-beta-reductase gene (AKR1D1; 604741) on chromosome 7q33; CBAS3 (613812), caused by mutation in the 7-alpha hydroxylase gene (CYP7B1; 603711) on chromosome 8q12; CBAS4 (214950), caused by mutation in the AMACR gene (604489) on chromosome 5p13; CBAS5 (616278), caused by mutation in the ABCD3 gene (170995) on chromosome 1p21; and CBAS6 (617308), caused by mutation in the ACOX2 gene (601641) on chromosome 3p14. See also progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC1; 211600), which has a similar phenotype.

Mitchell-Riley syndrome (MTCHRS) is characterized by neonatal diabetes, pancreatic hypoplasia, intestinal atresia, and gallbladder aplasia or hypoplasia. There is considerable phenotypic overlap between Mitchell-Riley syndrome and Martinez-Frias syndrome (601346), the latter being characterized by the features of the Mitchell-Riley syndrome except for neonatal diabetes, and including tracheoesophageal fistula in some patients (Smith et al., 2010).

Congenital bile acid synthesis defect-3 (CBAS3) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by prolonged jaundice after birth, hepatomegaly, conjugated hyperbilirubinemia, elevations in characteristic abnormal bile acids, and progressive intrahepatic cholestasis with liver fibrosis (summary by Setchell et al., 1998 and Ueki et al., 2008). For a general phenotypic description and a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of congenital bile acid synthesis defects, see 607765.

Neonatal sclerosing cholangitis (NSC) is a rare autosomal recessive form of severe liver disease with onset in infancy. Affected infants have jaundice, cholestasis, acholic stools, and progressive liver dysfunction resulting in fibrosis and cirrhosis; most require liver transplantation in the first few decades of life. Cholangiography shows patent biliary ducts, but there are bile duct irregularities (summary by Girard et al., 2016; Grammatikopoulos et al., 2016).

Biliary atresia is a disorder of infants in which there is progressive obliteration or discontinuity of the extrahepatic biliary system, resulting in obstruction of bile flow. Untreated, the resulting cholestasis leads to progressive conjugated hyperbilirubinemia, cirrhosis, and hepatic failure (Bates et al., 1998). Most patients require liver transplantation within the first year of life (Leyva-Vega et al., 2010). See also Alagille syndrome (118450), which includes biliary atresia as a feature.

Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis-10 (PFIC10) is an autosomal recessive liver disorder characterized by the onset of symptoms in the first months or years of life. Features include jaundice, pruritis, and hepatomegaly associated with increased serum bilirubin and bile acids. Liver transaminases may be variably increased, but gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT; see 612346) is normal. Liver biopsy shows hepatocellular and canalicular cholestasis with giant cell changes. Although rare patients may have episodes of diarrhea and even show endoscopic features of microvillus inclusion disease (MVID), this tends to be transient and cholestasis dominates the clinical picture (Gonzales et al., 2017; Cockar et al., 2020). For a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis, see PFIC1 (211600).