Protein S deficiency is a disorder associated with increased risk of venous thrombosis. Protein S, a vitamin K-dependent physiological anticoagulant, acts as a nonenzymatic cofactor to activate protein C in the degradation of factor Va and factor VIIIa. Decreased (antigen) levels or impaired function of protein S leads to decreased degradation of factor Va and factor VIIIa and an increased propensity to venous thrombosis. Protein S circulates in human plasma in two forms: approximately 60 percent is bound to complement component C4b β-chain while the remaining 40 percent is free, only free protein S has activated protein C cofactor activity

Protein C deficiency is a rare genetic trait that predisposes to thrombotic disease. It was first described in 1981. The disease belongs to a group of genetic disorders known as thrombophilias. Protein C deficiency is associated with an increased incidence of venous thromboembolism (relative risk 8–10), whereas no association with arterial thrombotic disease has been found.

Among the possibilities for differential diagnosis of protein S deficiency are- Antiphospholipid syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation and antithrombin deficiency (though this list is not exhaustive)

Protein C is vitamin K-dependent. Patients with Protein C deficiency are at an increased risk of developing skin necrosis while on warfarin. Protein C has a short half life (8 hour) compared with other vitamin K-dependent factors and therefore is rapidly depleted with warfarin initiation, resulting in a transient hypercoagulable state.

An estimated 64 percent of patients with venous thromboembolism may have activated protein C resistance.

Activated protein C resistance (APCR) is a hemostatic disorder characterized by a poor anticoagulant response to activated protein C (APC). This results in an increased risk of venous thrombosis, which can cause problems with circulation, such as pulmonary embolism.

The disorder can be acquired or inherited, the hereditary form having an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern.

The disease causes an increased risk of bleeding. The most common sites of bleeding are the umbilicus, mucous membranes, gastrointestinal tract, circumcision and venepunctures.

Haemorrhagic disease of the newborn, also known as vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB), is a coagulation disturbance in newborn infants due to vitamin K deficiency. As a consequence of vitamin K deficiency there is an impaired production of coagulation factors II, VII, IX, X, protein C and protein S by the liver, resulting in excessive bleeding (hemorrhage).

Defined as those seen in any macrocytic, megaloblastic anemia:

- Anemia: causing fatigue, conjuctival pallor, pale complexion, and in some cases, a mild icterus (yellowing of the eye).

- Glossitis ("shiny tongue"): shiny, glossy tongue.

- Cheilosis (stomatitis): Inflammation of the edges of the lips and the oral mucosa.

- Tabes dorsalis ("subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord"): This involves the posterior section of the spinal cord and therefore involves proprioception (sense of position), touch, sense of vibration and in severe cases the lateral corticospinal tract, causing spastic paralysis of the limbs.

- Peripheral neuropathy: tingling sensation in the arms and legs.

- Pancytopenia: decreased number of blood cells of all lineages (RBCs, leucocytes, platelets), due to decreased bone marrow production.

- Methylmalonyl CoA-emia: defined as blood having an unusually high concentration of methylmalonyl CoA.

- Peripheral findings such as hypersegmented neutrophils and large RBCs on high field view of the blood smears.

- Laboratory findings indicating increased MCV (Mean Corpuscular Volume), decreased Hgb/Hct (indicating anemia), and decreased value of vitamin B in the blood.

- Proteinuria: protein found in the urine detected by analysis or by dipstick.

- Reversal of all symptoms except neurological symptoms, by IV injection of vitamin B.

- Schilling test indicating no radioactive vitamin B in the urine. (This test has dropped out of favor and should not be tried in patients with any form of renal failure).

Warfarin-induced skin necrosis (or, more generally, Anticoagulant-induced skin necrosis) is a condition in which skin and subcutaneous tissue necrosis (tissue death) occurs due to acquired protein C deficiency following treatment with anti-vitamin K anticoagulants (4-hydroxycoumarins, such as warfarin).

Warfarin necrosis is a rare but severe complication of treatment with warfarin or related anticoagulants. The typical patient appears to be an obese, middle aged woman (median age 54 years, male to female ratio 1:3). This drug eruption usually occurs between the third and tenth days of therapy with warfarin derivatives. The first symptoms are pain and redness in the affected area. As they progress, lesions develop a sharp border and become petechial, then hard and purpuric. They may then resolve or progress to form large, irregular, bloody bullae with eventual necrosis and slow-healing eschar formation. Favored sites are breasts, thighs, buttocks and penis, all areas with subcutaneous fat. In rare cases, the fascia and muscle are involved.

Development of the syndrome is associated with the use of large loading doses at the start of treatment.

The following symptoms (signs) are consistent with complement deficiency in general:

Imerslund–Gräsbeck syndrome, is a rare autosomal recessive, familial form of vitamin B deficiency caused by malfunction of the ""Cubam"" receptor located in the terminal ileum. This receptor is composed of two proteins, amnionless (AMN), and cubilin. A defect in either of these protein components can cause this syndrome. This is a rare disease, with a prevalence about 1 in 200,000, and is usually seen in patients of European ancestry.

Vitamin B is an important vitamin needed for bone marrow functioning, the deficit of which causes decreased marrow output and anemia. Vitamin B has two forms, one of which, along with folate, is important in DNA synthesis. Vitamin B is sensitive to acid deformation in the stomach, so a molecule called haptocorrin (R-factor), protects it in the stomach. In the small bowel, a molecule named intrinsic factor (IF), allows vitamin B to be absorbed in the ileum. IGS is caused by a mutation in the receptors located in the terminal portion of ileum. This is a very rare, and unlikely cause of vitamin B deficiency but is a cause nonetheless.

Symptoms include bruising, petechiae, hematomas, oozing of blood at surgical or puncture sites, stomach pains; risk of massive uncontrolled bleeding; cartilage calcification; and severe malformation of developing bone or deposition of insoluble calcium salts in the walls of arteries. In infants, it can cause some birth defects such as underdeveloped face, nose, bones, and fingers.

Vitamin K is changed to its active form in the liver by the enzyme Vitamin K epoxide reductase. Activated vitamin K is then used to gamma carboxylate (and thus activate) certain enzymes involved in coagulation: Factors II, VII, IX, X, and protein C and protein S. Inability to activate the clotting cascade via these factors leads to the bleeding symptoms mentioned above.

Notably, when one examines the lab values in Vitamin K deficiency [see below] the prothrombin time is elevated, but the partial thromboplastin time is normal or only mildly prolonged. This may seem counterintuitive given that the deficiency leads to decreased activity in factors of both the intrinsic pathway (F-IX) which is monitored by PTT, as well as the extrinsic pathway (F-VII) which is monitored by PT. However, factor VII has the shortest half-life of all the factors carboxylated by vitamin K; therefore, when deficient, it is the PT that rises first, since the activated Factor VII is the first to "disappear." In later stages of deficiency, the other factors (which have longer half lives) are able to "catch up," and the PTT becomes elevated as well.

Vitamin K deficiency or hypovitaminosis K is a form of avitaminosis resulting from insufficient vitamin K or vitamin K or both.

Complement deficiency is an immunodeficiency of absent or suboptimal functioning of one of the complement system proteins. Because there are redundancies in the immune system, many complement disorders are never diagnosed, some studies estimated that less than 10% are identified. "Hypocomplementemia" may be used more generally to refer to decreased complement levels while "secondary complement disorder" means decreased complement levels that are not directly due to a genetic cause but secondary to another medical condition.

Often symptoms will arise that indicate the body is not absorbing or making the lipoproteins that it needs. These symptoms usually appear "en masse", meaning that they happen all together, all the time. These symptoms come as follows:

- Failure to thrive/Failure to grow in infancy

- Steatorrhea/Fatty, pale stools

- Frothy stools

- Foul smelling stools

- Protruding abdomen

- Intellectual disability/developmental delay

- Developmental coordination disorder, evident by age ten

- Muscle weakness

- Slurred speech

- Scoliosis (curvature of the spine)

- Progressive decreased vision

- Balance and coordination problems

Abetalipoproteinemia affects the absorption of dietary fats, cholesterol, and certain vitamins. People affected by this disorder are not able to make certain lipoproteins, which are molecules that consist of proteins combined with cholesterol and particular fats called triglycerides. This leads to a multiple vitamin deficiency, affecting the fat-soluble vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K. However, many of the observed effects are due to vitamin E deficiency in particular.

The signs and symptoms of abetalipoproteinemia appear in the first few months of life (because pancreatic lipase is not active in this period). They can include failure to gain weight and grow at the expected rate (failure to thrive); diarrhea; abnormal spiny red blood cells (acanthocytosis); and fatty, foul-smelling stools (steatorrhea). The stool may contain large chunks of fat and/or blood. Other features of this disorder may develop later in childhood and often impair the function of the nervous system. They can include poor muscle coordination, difficulty with balance and movement (ataxia), and progressive degeneration of the retina (the light-sensitive layer in the posterior eye) that can progress to near-blindness (due to deficiency of vitamin A, retinol). Adults in their thirties or forties may have increasing difficulty with balance and walking. Many of the signs and symptoms of abetalipoproteinemia result from a severe vitamin deficiency, especially vitamin E deficiency, which typically results in eye problems with degeneration of the spinocerebellar and dorsal column tracts.

Affected infants present within a few months after birth with failure to thrive and severe folate deficiency manifested as macrocytic anemia and developmental delays. There can be (i) pancytopenia, (ii) diarrhea and/or mucositis and/or (iii) immune deficiency due to T-cell dysfunction and hypoimmunoglobulinemia resulting in pneumonia usually due to Pneumocystis jirovecii. Recently, several infants with the immune deficiency syndrome were described. Untreated, or with inadequate treatment, there are progressive systemic and neurological signs with a spectrum of manifestations including seizures that are often intractable. Females with HFM are fertile and, if folate sufficient during pregnancy, have normal offspring. Subjects that carry one mutated PCFT allele are normal. The genomic and clinical features of HFM were recently reviewed.

Copper deficiency can cause a wide variety of neurological problems including, myelopathy, peripheral neuropathy, and optic neuropathy.

Elevated levels of homocysteine have been associated with a number of disease states.

This defect leads to a multi-systemic disorder of the connective tissue, muscles, central nervous system (CNS), and cardiovascular system. Homocystinuria represents a group of hereditary metabolic disorders characterized by an accumulation of the amino acid homocysteine in the serum and an increased excretion of homocysteine in the urine. Infants appear to be normal and early symptoms, if any are present, are vague.

Signs and symptoms of homocystinuria that may be seen include the following:

Vitamin B deficiency can lead to anemia and neurologic dysfunction. A mild deficiency may not cause any discernible symptoms, but as the deficiency becomes more significant, symptoms of anemia may result, such as weakness, fatigue, light-headedness, rapid heartbeat, rapid breathing and pale color to the skin. It may also cause easy bruising or bleeding, including bleeding gums. GI side effects including sore tongue, stomach upset, weight loss, and diarrhea or constipation. If the deficiency is not corrected, nerve cell damage can result. If this happens, vitamin B deficiency may result in tingling or numbness to the fingers and toes, difficulty walking, mood changes, depression, memory loss, disorientation and, in severe cases, dementia.

The main syndrome of vitamin B deficiency is pernicious anemia. It is characterized by a triad of symptoms:

1. Anemia with bone marrow promegaloblastosis (megaloblastic anemia). This is due to the inhibition of DNA synthesis (specifically purines and thymidine)

2. Gastrointestinal symptoms: alteration in bowel motility, such as mild diarrhea or constipation, and loss of bladder or bowel control. These are thought to be due to defective DNA synthesis inhibiting replication in a site with a high turnover of cells. This may also be due to the autoimmune attack on the parietal cells of the stomach in pernicious anemia. There is an association with GAVE syndrome (commonly called watermelon stomach) and pernicious anemia.

3. Neurological symptoms: Sensory or motor deficiencies (absent reflexes, diminished vibration or soft touch sensation), subacute combined degeneration of spinal cord, seizures, or even symptoms of dementia and or other psychiatric symptoms may be present. Deficiency symptoms in children include developmental delay, regression, irritability, involuntary movements and hypotonia.

The presence of peripheral sensory-motor symptoms or subacute combined degeneration of spinal cord strongly suggests the presence of a B deficiency instead of folate deficiency. Methylmalonic acid, if not properly handled by B, remains in the myelin sheath, causing fragility. Dementia and depression have been associated with this deficiency as well, possibly from the under-production of methionine because of the inability to convert homocysteine into this product. Methionine is a necessary cofactor in the production of several neurotransmitters.

Each of those symptoms can occur either alone or along with others. The neurological complex, defined as "myelosis funicularis", consists of the following symptoms:

1. Impaired perception of deep touch, pressure and vibration, loss of sense of touch, very annoying and persistent paresthesias

2. Ataxia of dorsal chord type

3. Decrease or loss of deep muscle-tendon reflexes

4. Pathological reflexes — Babinski, Rossolimo and others, also severe paresis

Vitamin B deficiency can cause severe and irreversible damage, especially to the brain and nervous system. These symptoms of neuronal damage may not reverse after correction of hematological abnormalities, and the chance of complete reversal decreases with the length of time the neurological symptoms have been present.

Tinnitus may be associated with vitamin B deficiency.

Hyperhomocysteinemia or hyperhomocysteinaemia is a medical condition characterized by an abnormally high level of homocysteine in the blood, conventionally described as above 15 µmol/L.

As a consequence of the biochemical reactions in which homocysteine is involved, deficiencies of

vitamin B, folic acid (vitamin B), and vitamin B can lead to high homocysteine levels.

Hyperhomocysteinemia is typically managed with vitamin B6, vitamin B9 and vitamin B12 supplementation. Supplements of these vitamins; however, do not change outcomes.

The characteristic hematological (blood) effects of copper deficiency are anemia (which may be microcytic, normocytic or macrocytic) and neutropenia. Thrombocytopenia (low blood platelets) is unusual.

The peripheral blood and bone marrow aspirate findings in copper deficiency can mimic myelodysplastic syndrome. Bone marrow aspirate in both conditions may show dysplasia of blood cell precursors and the presence of ring sideroblasts (erythroblasts containing multiple iron granules around the nucleus). Unlike most cases of myelodysplastic syndrome, the bone marrow aspirate in copper deficiency characteristically shows cytoplasmic vacuoles within red and white cell precursors, and karyotyping in cases of copper deficiency does not reveal cytogenetic features characteristic of myelodysplastic syndrome.

Anemia and neutropenia typically resolve within six weeks of copper replacement.

Hereditary folate malabsorption (HFM - OMIM #229050) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by loss-of-function mutations in the proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT) gene, resulting in systemic folate deficiency and impaired delivery of folate to the brain.