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In vitro studies on the pathogenesis of aplastic anemia in Chinese patients

W M Da1

  • 1Department of Hematology, Lanzhou General Hospital, Gansu Province, People's Republic of China.

We studied the hemopoietic progenitor cell assays for granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units (CFU-GM) and fibroblast colony-forming units (CFU-F) and the effects of patient marrow cells or serum on the growth of normal CFU-GM in 30 Chinese patients with aplastic anemia. We found the pathogenetic mechanisms to be complex. Defects of hemopoietic stem cells, the supporting microenvironment, and abnormal immune regulation alone or in combination were present. We found no CFU-GM or CFU-F growth in cases of chloramphenicol-induced aplastic anemia, suggesting damage not only to hemopoietic progenitors but also to marrow stromal cells. Our data demonstrate that aplastic anemia is a heterogeneous disease with multiple mechanisms leading to clinical cytopenia. The use of these techniques allows better delineation of the pathogenesis of aplastic anemia in individual patients.

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