Christian Chatelain

In vivo elaboration of CSF in acute inflammation : proportionality to the intensity of the inflammatory stimulus and requirement of T lymphocytes

Abstract: The colony‐stimulating factor(s) (CSF) that stimulates the in vitro growth of bone marrow granulocyte‐monocyte progenitors (CFU‐GM) increases in the serum of mice challenged by an aseptic abscess induced by copper rod insertion. The effect of the inflammation on the increase of serum CSF is dose‐related. The creation of 3 aseptic abscesses indeed results in a higher and longer elevation of serum CSF than 1 abscess. Serum CSF also increases in parallel with the rise in bone marrow CFU‐GM; this is consistent with the CSF playing a role in regulation of haematopoiesis in vivo. From previous studies, it appears that T lymphocytes play a central role in the regulation of haematopoiesis. In order to determine the role of T lymphocytes in the inflammation response, cyclosporin A (CyA), an inhibitor of T lymphocyte function, was given in vivo, 2 days before inflammation induction. CyA abrogates the increase in both serum CSF and CFU‐GM. Furthermore, a lower increase in serum CSF was observed in copper‐implanted nude mice. These results suggest that the CSF production induced by inflammation requires the functional integrity of T lymphocytes.

Myelofibrosis patients in Belgium: disease characteristics.

Abstract Objective: To date, only a small number of epidemiological studies on myelofibrosis have been performed. The current study aimed to characterize the myelofibrosis patient population in Belgium according to pre-defined disease parameters (diagnosis, risk categories, hemoglobin <10 g/dl, spleen size, constitutional symptoms, platelet count, myeloblast count), with a view to obtaining a deeper understanding of the proportion of patients that may benefit from the novel myelofibrosis therapeutic strategies. Methods: A survey was used to collect data on prevalence and disease parameters on all myelofibrosis patients seen at each of 18 participating hematologic centers in 2011. Aggregated data from all centers were used for analysis. Analyses were descriptive and quantitative. Results: A total of 250 patients with myelofibrosis were captured; of these, 136 (54%) were male and 153 (61%) were over 65 years old. One hundred sixty-five (66%) of myelofibrosis patients had primary myelofibrosis and 85 (34%) had secondary myelofibrosis. One hundred ninety-three myelofibrosis patients (77%) had a palpable spleen. About a third of patients (34%) suffered from constitutional symptoms. Two hundred twenty-two (89%) myelofibrosis patients had platelet count ≧50u2009000/μl and 201 (80%) had platelet count ≧100u2009000/μl. Of 250 patients, 85 (34%) had a myeloblast count ≧1%. Six (2%) patients had undergone a splenectomy. Thirteen (5·2%) patients had undergone radiotherapy for splenomegaly. Conclusions: The results of this survey provide insight into the characteristics of the Belgian myelofibrosis population. They also suggest that a large proportion of these patients could stand to benefit from the therapies currently under development.

Acute non-immune haemolytic anaemia during infectious mononucleosis unmasking spherocytosis.

We report a case of acute haemolytic anaemia complicating infectious mononucleosis in a 19-year old male. There was no evidence for an immune haemolysis and red cell studies revealed a previously undiagnosed congenital spherocytosis. We discuss this rare presentation.