White blood cell aplasia associated with thymoma.
A limited number of cases of acquired hypoplastic neutropenia or pure white blood cell aplasia (PWCA) associated with thymoma have been reported, in contrast to the well-documented association of pure red blood cell aplasia and thymoma. The mechanism of the aplasia in these disorders is unclear. The authors report a case of PWCA (with total absence of all granulopoietic elements in the bone marrow) in a patient with metastatic spindle cell thymoma, in which suppression of autologous granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units by the patient's serum could be demonstrated. This finding suggests a humoral autoimmune mechanism for the pathogenesis of PWCA in this patient and lends support to the possibility that all hematologic phenomena associated with thymoma may have an autoimmune basis.
Ackland
S P
SP
Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Illinois.
Bur
M E
ME
Adler
S S
SS
Robertson
M
M
Baron
J M
JM
D000368:Aged; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D005260:Female; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007970:Leukopenia / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000473:pathology; D013945:Thymoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology