Eosinophilia resulting from administration of recombinant granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) in a patient with T-gamma lymphoproliferative disease

A therapeutic trial of recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) was attempted in a patient with neutropenia and frequent infections secondary to T-gamma lymphoproliferative disease (T-gamma LPD). During the 14 days of subcutaneous rhGM-CSF (500 micrograms/m2/day), the absolute eosinophil count increased from 0 to 9,455/microliters. By contrast, the absolute neutrophil count decreased. Toxicity related to rhGM-CSF included arthralgia and nonspecific chest pain. The possible mechanism for the rhGM-CSF induced selective eosinophilia is discussed.