losartan-potassium and Leukemia--Monocytic--Acute

Acute monoblastic leukemia (acute myeloid leukemia [AML], French-American-British type M5a) with leukemia cutis developed in a patient 6 weeks after the initiation of erythropoietin (EPO) therapy for refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts. AML disappeared from both marrow and skin after the discontinuation of EPO. Multiparameter flow cytometric analysis of bone marrow cells demonstrated coexpression of the EPO receptor with CD45 and CD13 on the surface of blasts. The incubation of marrow cells with EPO, compared to without, resulted in 1.3- and 1.6-fold increases, respectively, in tritiated thymidine incorporation and bromodeoxyuridine incorporation into CD13(+) cells. Clinical and laboratory findings were consistent with the EPO-dependent transformation of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) to AML. It is concluded that leukemic transformation in patients with MDS treated with EPO may be EPO-dependent and that management should consist of the discontinuation of EPO followed by observation, if clinically feasible.

Topics: Aged; Anemia, Sideroblastic; Bone Marrow; CD13 Antigens; Erythropoietin; Flow Cytometry; Humans; Leukemia, Monocytic, Acute; Leukocyte Common Antigens; Male; Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Receptors, Erythropoietin; Skin

Marked elevation of serum erythropoietin (sEPO) occurs following high dose chemotherapy for malignant disease. It has been proposed that the subsequent fall in sEPO constitutes a relative erythropoietin (EPO) deficiency, prompting trials of recombinant EPO to reduce red cell transfusion during chemotherapy. We have investigated these phenomena by serial estimations of reticulocytes and sEPO in 11 autologous marrow transplant recipients. sEPO reached two to five times baseline 0 to 5 days after transplant but the inverse relationship between sEPO and haematocrit was maintained. Observed to expected log sEPO (Epo ratio) rose and fell in parallel with sEPO, remaining greater than 1.0 throughout. A progressive fall in reticulocyte count during chemotherapy was followed by an increase during engraftment. The strong inverse relationships between reticulocytes and Epo ratio in the 10 days after initiating chemotherapy support the hypothesis that loss of EPO-receptor bearing erythroid precursors allows a rise in sEPO during chemotherapy. The elevation of Epo ratio levels during engraftment indicates that it is the availability of EPO-sensitive progenitors, rather than the supply of EPO, that limits the rate of resumption of erythropoiesis after high-dose chemotherapy.

Topics: Adult; Bone Marrow Transplantation; Erythropoiesis; Erythropoietin; Hematocrit; Humans; Leukemia, Monocytic, Acute; Middle Aged; Reticulocyte Count; Reticulocytes; Transplantation, Autologous

Erythropoietin level in the serum and urine of adult patients with acute leukaemia (AML, ALL, MML) was estimated by polycythaemic mouse bioassay in order to obtain more information about the associated anaemia. In AML and ALL patients the serum erythropoietin level as found to be increased and in a negative correlation with the blood haemoglobin concentration. In ALL patients erythropoietin in urine was increased regularly while in AML patients it was not. No correlation between the serum level and the urinary excretion of ESF, or between the blood Hb and the serum ESF, was found in MML patients. The results show that anaemia in leukaemia is not due to the low ESF level.

Topics: Acute Disease; Adult; Anemia; Animals; Erythropoiesis; Erythropoietin; Humans; Iron; Leukemia; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Leukemia, Monocytic, Acute; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Mice; Mice, Inbred CBA