Neutropenia dynamics in a case of T-LGL lymphoproliferation illustrate rapid turnover of granulocyte progenitors.
OBJECTIVE
To elucidate the natural history of T-cell large granular lymphocyte (T-LGL) lymphoproliferation, we followed changes in associated fluctuating neutropenia for 3 years in an untreated patient presenting with the disease.


METHODS
We report a nonlinear mathematical analysis of irregular neutrophil fluctuation, using iterative data maps, to detect long-term regulation of the neutrophil population.


RESULTS
This geometric analysis indicated that variations of this sequence of neutrophil counts followed bounded deterministic dynamics around a fixed low level equilibrium, a situation similar to that previously observed for cultured mouse early bone marrow progenitor cells.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings illustrate how the deleterious effect of T-LGL on neutrophils is balanced, over periods of years, by pulses of compensatory neutrophil production, potentially accounting for the commonly observed prolonged indolent course of the disease.
Wolfrom
C M
CM
CNRS-UMR 8080 'Développement et Evolution', Université Paris-Sud, Orsay Cedex, France. claire.wolfrom@u-psud.fr
Lévy
V
V
Deschatrette
J
J
D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000502:physiology; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D054066:Leukemia, Large Granular Lymphocytic / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors