[Comparison of HIV-associated dyshemopoiesis in myelodysplastic HIV-negative patients]

Bone marrow biopsies of 23 HIV-1 infected patients and 29 patients with myelodysplastic disorders were examined histologically by immuno- and enzyme-histochemical techniques and morphometrical methods. The nucleolar organizer regions (AgNOR) were demonstrated and visually counted. Hypercellularity in marrows of AIDS patients is substantially caused by an increase of erythropoiesis and CD68+ macrophages/reticular cells. However, hypercellularity in preleukemia results from hyperplasia of all hematological cell lines and CD68+ bone marrow macrophages/reticular cells. AgNOR count is positively correlated with granulo- and erythropoiesis in preleukemia. In AIDS there is such a positive correlation between AgNOR count and granulopoiesis whereas an inverse relationship appears in erythropoiesis. The results suggest that HIV-associated bone marrow alterations differ from merely reactive changes and are related to myelodysplastic disorders.