title: White blood cell aplasia associated with thymoma.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Ackland
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bur
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Baron
mesh_terms: 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