Erythroid colony growth from peripheral blood and bone marrow in polycythaemia
Article Abstract:
Erythrocytosis (an increase in red blood cell production) may result from increased concentrations of erythropoietin (a protein that stimulates red blood cell production), or from the clonal (single) expansion of an abnormal hemopoietic stem cell (immature blood cell). This can result in an increase in the number of white blood cells and platelets (primary proliferative polycythemia, PPP). If the polycythemia is due to hypoxia or renal (kidney) carcinoma, then it is referred to as secondary polycythemia (SP). When patients have PPP and the cause of the erythrocytosis is unknown, they are classified as having idiopathic erythrocytosis (IE). Polycythemia that results from reduced plasma volume is called pseudopolycythemia (PP). When cultured bone marrow samples from patients with PPP form erythroid colonies without the addition of erythropoietin, the colonies are referred to as endogenous erythroid colonies (EEC). A study was performed to assess EEC growth in 23 patients with PPP, 9 with IE, 10 with SP, 15 with pseudopolycythemia, and in 76 normal patients. EEC were found in peripheral blood specimens from 20 of 22 patients with PPP, and 2 of 7 cases with IE. EEC were not found in SP or PP patients, or normal subjects. Small numbers of endogenous colony forming units were detected in bone marrow cultures from 3 of 24 normal subjects. This suggests that peripheral blood cultures provide a more specific indicator of erythrocytosis. It is concluded that detection of peripheral blood EEC growth is an effective and convenient means of distinguishing patients with clonal erythrocytosis, and may be of particular value when iron deficiency obscures the diagnosis of PPP. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journal of Clinical Pathology
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0021-9746
Year: 1990
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Prolonged defects of interleukin-2 production, responsiveness, and receptor expression in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Article Abstract:
The bone marrow cells of fourteen children in remission from acute lymphoblastic leukemia were studied to assess their ability to respond to interleukin-2, a T lymphocyte-derived growth factor that stimulates cell division. All study participants had received or were still receiving chemotherapy. When purified T cell cultures were stimulated with concanavalin A, the response of the T cells was significantly lower than that of normal cells when further treated with interleukin-2 (IL-2). The ability of the patients' mononuclear cells (a type of white cell with a single nucleus) cells to produce IL-2 as a result of stimulation with another drug, phytohemagglutinin (PHA), was similarly reduced. The results show that the majority of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who have undergone chemotherapy have abnormal biochemical mechanisms which involve IL-2 and T cells. That the effects of chemotherapy extend for so long is surprising and may increase the risk of complications for individuals who survive for an extended period of time.
Publication Name: Blood
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0006-4971
Year: 1989
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