A report of a case with pure red cell aplasia induced by sodium valproate

A 5-year-old girl developed pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) during sodium valproate (VPA) administration. Only four cases of VPA induced PRCA have been reported in the literature. Furthermore no precise report concerning the underlying mechanisms is available. Using a system for the clonal growth of autologous bone marrow committed erythroid stem cells (CFU-E, BFU-E) VPA itself was not inhibitory for colony formation at a physiological concentration. Patient's serum and peripheral mononuclear cells collected at admission showed no inhibitory effects on erythroid progenitor cell growth. Rapid recovery from PRCA was observed after discontinuation of VPA, without immunosuppressive therapy. Our observation suggests that VPA may induce PRCA through the inhibitory effect beyond the differentiation stage of BFU-E and CFU-E in some cases.