Bilineage response in refractory aplastic anemia patients following long-term administration of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. |
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Authors: | Y Sonoda H Yashige H Fujii S Tsuda T Maekawa S Misawa T Abe |
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Institution: | Department of Hygiene, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan. |
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Abstract: | 5 patients with refractory aplastic anemia (AA) received long-term administration (2-11 + months) of recombinant human G-CSF (rhG-CSF) in doses from 250-500 micrograms/body/day by intravenous infusion or 75-300 micrograms/body/d by subcutaneous injection. All 5 evaluable patients showed a substantial increase in absolute neutrophil count (ANC) with a recovery of myeloid components in the bone marrow after 1 to 2 months of treatment. Interestingly, 2 out of the 5 patients showed a dramatic improvement in severe anemia after 2 to 4 months of treatment accompanying a recovery of erythroid components in the bone marrow. In addition, there was no serious infection before or during therapy. Long-term administration of rhG-CSF was well tolerated because of its minimal toxicity. Clonal assay revealed a recovery of myeloid progenitors in all patients and a recovery of erythroid progenitors in 3 out of the 5 patients. These results suggest that long-term administration of rhG-CSF at least mobilizes residual myeloid as well as erythroid progenitor cells and induces a bilineage response in severe refractory AA. |
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Keywords: | aplastic anemia G-CSF long-term administration bilineage response |
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