Autoimmune pancytopenia. Lymphocyte inhibition of autologous but not allogenic bone marrow growth in vitro.
A patient with autoimmune renal failure, cavitary lung lesions and arthritis experienced pancytopenia while prednisone therapy was being tapered. Utilizing semisolid culture techniques, a population of nonadherent peripheral blood mononuclear cells was demonstrated, which inhibited autologous but not allogeneic bone marrow erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-E) and myeloid colony-forming units (CFU-c) in vitro. No inhibition of CFU-E or CFU-c colony formation was seen when patient's serum or immunoglobulin G (IgG) was added to cultures. Reinstitution of prednisone therapy resulted in normalization of peripheral blood counts, which was accompanied by the loss of the hemopoietic inhibitor cell activity in the patient's peripheral blood. These results demonstrate the need for testing autologous marrow samples when looking for possible immune-mediated inhibition of hematopoiesis.
D000328:Adult; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D001842:Bone and Bones; D006410:Hematopoiesis; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D010198:Pancytopenia / Q000276:immunology*; D011241:Prednisone / Q000627:therapeutic use
D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011241:Prednisone