We have analyzed natural killer (NK) cells in 43 patients with severe aplastic anemia, using cytotoxicity assays and microfluorometry with monoclonal antibodies, prior to and after treatment with antithymocyte globulin (ATG). Before treatment, natural killer cell activity (NKa) in both peripheral blood and bone marrow was markedly decreased in 76% of patients as compared with normal controls. A...

The hematotoxicity of benzene exposure has been well known for a century. Benzene causes leukocytopenia, thrombocytopenia, pancytopenia, etc. The clinical and hematologic picture of aplastic anemia resulting from benzene exposure is not different from classical aplastic anemia; in some cases, mild bilirubinemia, changes in osmotic fragility, increase in lactic dehydrogenase and fecal urobilinog...

Emerging evidence indicates that microRNA control and modulate immunity. MicroRNA have not been investigated in acquired aplastic anemia, a T-cell-mediated immune disease. Analysis of 84 microRNA expression levels in CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells of patients with aplastic anemia revealed concurrent down-regulation of miR-126-3p, miR-145-5p, miR-223-3p, and miR-199a-5p (>3-fold change, P<0.05) in bo...

Severe aplastic anemia is a rare bone marrow failure disease with the majority of cases caused by aberrant immune destruction of blood progenitors. Although the Th1-mediated pathology of aplastic anemia is well-described, the molecular mechanisms that drive disease progression remain ill-defined. The NOTCH signaling pathway mediates Th1 differentiation in the presence of polarizing cytokines, a...

Blood and bone marrow granulocyte colony forming units (CFUc) were assayed in 46 patients with aplastic anemia, and the serum was examined for its inhibitory action on normal CFUc growth. All patients showed a gross reduction in colonies and clusters in incidence and absolute number in the bone marrow and blood. Two proliferative abnormalities of CFUc in aplastic anaemia were identified: a sign...

Aplastic crisis is an unusual feature of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We report the case of a 54-year-old woman presenting with both (extravascular) Coombs-positive hemolytic anemia and laboratory findings of bone marrow hyporegeneration with concomitant severe neutropenia. A bone marrow biopsy confirmed aplastic crisis. Diagnostic work-up revealed soaring titers of autoantibodies (anti-...

The diagnosis of aplastic anaemia depends upon the demonstration of hypocellularity of the bone-marrow, and before making the diagnosis it is essential to demonstrate this by appropriate marrow aspiration, bone-biopsy, and special investigations: Even so, this diagnosis includes a number of entities which differ in behaviour and prognosis and are probably due to different fundamental defects. T...

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common malignancy in pediatric patients; its diagnosis is usually easy to establish as malignant lymphoblasts invade the bone marrow and peripheral blood. Some acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients may initially present with pancytopenia and a hypoplastic bone marrow leading to the initial diagnosis of aplastic anemia. In most of these patients clinical ...

Aplastic anemia is a rare but life-threatening disorder characterized by cytopenia in at least two of the three blood lineages. A frequent feature of patients with aplastic anemia is that they have shorter telomeres than those of age-matched controls. Testosterone has been used for over half a century in the treatment of aplastic anemia. However, although remissions are frequent following hormo...