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Balancing (yin-yang) hypothesis for assessment of effective apheresis therapies
1Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
In the past, the therapeutic effects of apheresis were thought to be due to effective removal of pathological macromolecules and leukocytes. However, the removal of these components did not necessarily produce a lower level of these components in circulating blood. Very often a rebound phenomenon took place, particularly in leukocyte kinetics after apheresis procedures, and an increased level of circulating leukocytes was demonstrated. Thus, the assessment of the clinical effects of apheresis procedures was very difficult to discuss in terms of the removal of pathological macromolecules and/or leukocytes alone. A balancing (yin-yang) hypothesis is thus proposed to be able to understand more realistically the clinical efficacy of therapeutic apheresis.
In the past, the therapeutic effects of apheresis were thought to be due to effective removal of pathological macromolecules and leukocytes. However, the removal of these components did not necessarily produce a lower level of these components in circulating blood. Very often a rebound phenomenon took place, particularly in leukocyte kinetics after apheresis procedures, and an increased level of circulating leukocytes was demonstrated. Thus, the assessment of the clinical effects of apheresis procedures was very difficult to discuss in terms of the removal of pathological macromolecules and/or leukocytes alone. A balancing (yin-yang) hypothesis is thus proposed to be able to understand more realistically the clinical efficacy of therapeutic apheresis.