Pancreatic carcinoma associated with marked eosinophilia: a case report

A case of pancreatic carcinoma associated with marked eosinophilia is reported. A 71-yr-old man was admitted to hospital because of melena and abdominal pain. The systematic examinations revealed pancreatic adenocarcinoma with multiple metastases (rectum, lung and brain). The leukocyte count was gradually increased and reached up to 81.7 X 10(9)/l, of which 54% consisted of eosinophils. Colony-stimulating factor (CSF) was detected both in the patient's serum and in the tumor extracts by a normal human bone marrow culture system. The colonies which were stimulated with patient's serum largely consisted of granulocyte, granulocyte/macrophage and eosinophil types. These results suggest that blood leukocytosis and eosinophilia were due to a high concentration of plasma CSF, which was probably produced by the tumor cells.