title: Tryptase detection in bone-marrow blood: a new diagnostic tool in systemic mastocytosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The condition mastocytosis includes a heterogenous group of disorders that are characterized by abnormal growth and accumulation of mast cells. The detection of serum tryptase, an essential mast cell enzyme, is a widely used tool in the diagnosis of mastocytosis. The diagnosis of systemic mastocytosis is substantially based on the histologic examination of bone-marrow biopsy specimens.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We hypothesized that the detection of tryptase in bone-marrow blood might provide additional, more sensitive information on the bone-marrow involvement of patients with mastocytosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum tryptase was monitored in patients with cutaneous symptoms (n = 17), patients with extracutaneous symptoms (n = 16), and healthy control subjects (n = 359). Bone-marrow biopsy specimens of patients with systemic mastocytosis (n = 7) and control subjects (n = 7) were investigated histologically and bone-marrow blood of these individuals was analyzed on the tryptase levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We could detect for the first time significantly elevated tryptase levels in bone-marrow blood of patients with systemic mastocytosis. Secondarily we could present a clear correlation between the level of serum tryptase and the clinical symptoms of mastocytosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the present study, we establish a new diagnostic tool for systemic mastocytosis. Unfortunately, we can only present a limited number of cases, since systemic mastocytosis is a rare disease involving few patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that the measurement of tryptase in bone-marrow blood is a new, sensitive marker of the mast cell burden in bone marrow of patients with systemic mastocytosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. julia.proelss@ukb.uni-bonn.de
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Proelss
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wenzel
authors.forename: Yon
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bieber
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bauer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001706:Biopsy; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000473:pathology; D034701:Mastocytosis, Cutaneous / Q000097:blood; D034721:Mastocytosis, Systemic / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D053802:Tryptases / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D053802:Tryptases