N ABNORMALITY of the red cells of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria ( PNH ) is responsible for their short life span in the circulation anu their lysis in vitro by certain factors present in normal plasma or serum. The hemolytic system in vitro is characteristically more active when the serum is made somewhat acid, about pH 6.8. The addition of thrombin to the serum is also capable of increas...

PNH is a rare clonal disorder of hematopoietic stem cells, therefore all blood cells lineages are involved. The main feature is an increased sensitivity of erythrocytes to complement-mediated cell lysis due to deficiency of membrane-bound GPI (glycosylphosphatidylinositol)-anchored proteins which normally function as inhibitors of reactive hemolysis. In the present study, we performed flow cyto...

Paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) also known as 'Marchiafava Micheli syndrome' is a rare condition which can lead to both acute and chronic forms of renal failure through renal tubular haemosiderin deposition. A 45-year-old lady with underlying PNH, presented with complaints of fever, productive cough followed by dark coloured urine. Investigations revealed pancytopenia with a markedly...

To investigate the biosynthesis of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor in the granulocytes of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), the glycolipids of granulocytes from PNH patients and normal volunteers were biosynthetically labeled with [3H]mannose in the presence of tunicamycin. Extracted glycolipids were examined by thin-layer chromatography and compared with known biosynthet...

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a complex hematological disorder resulting in a quite unique clinical syndrome. In fact, the typical clinical presentation encompasses three distinct hematological manifestations, i.e., hemolytic anemia, bone marrow failure and thrombophilia (Dunn et al 2000; Parker & Ware 2003; Notaro & Luzzatto 2003). Thus, the term PNH covers only one feature of t...

We have characterized the erythrocytes, granulocytes, and platelets of 54 patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) with antibodies to glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins (anti-CD55, anti-CD59, and anti-CD16) and flow cytometry to establish the usefulness of this technique in the diagnosis of this disorder. All patients demonstrated either completely (PNH III) or partia...

We have grown erythroid cell colonies from two patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). At 11 to 13 days, individual bursts were picked and incubated for 24 hours with 3H-leucine in order to label total cell protein (mainly hemoglobin). After appropriate washing, each burst was subjected to a miniaturized acidified serum test, and lysis was measured by the release of radioactivi...

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a progressive, systemic, life-threatening disease, characterized by chronic uncontrolled complement activation. A retrospective analysis of 301 Korean PNH patients who had not received eculizumab was performed to systematically identify the clinical symptoms and signs predictive of mortality. PNH patients with hemolysis (lactate dehydrogenase [LDH] ≥...

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a progressive, life-threatening disorder characterized by chronic intravascular hemolysis caused by uncontrolled complement activation. Hepatic vein thrombosis (Budd-Chiari syndrome) is common in PNH patients. This case report describes the response to eculizumab (a humanized monoclonal antibody that inhibits terminal complement activation) in a 25-y...