This journal recently included an article by Bennett et al (2006) reporting five cases of haematological malignancy occurring in normal individuals following exposure to haematopoietic growth factors. Three cases described lymphoid malignancies (non-Hodgkin lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia) occurring months to years after receipt of an investigational agent (pegylated, recombinant meg...

Splenectomized mice treated for 7 days with pegylated recombinant rat stem cell factor (rrSCF-PEG) showed a dosedependent increase in peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) that have enhanced in vivo repopulating potential. A dose of rrSCF-PEG at 25 pg/kg/d for 7 days produced no significant increase in PBPC. However, when this dose of rrSCF-PEG was combined with an optimal dose of recombinan...

When elderly patients are prescribed many different medications, the risk for developing serious adverse events should be kept in mind. One of these adverse events is agranulocytosis, which, although rare, can be life-threatening if left untreated. The majority of agranulocytosis cases are caused by drugs, including antibiotics. Here, we report a case of severe agranulocytosis in a 96-year-old ...