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Erythropoietin‐induced, antibody‐mediated pure red cell aplasia *
Author(s) -
Jérôme Rossert
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
european journal of clinical investigation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.164
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1365-2362
pISSN - 0014-2972
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2362.2005.01536.x
Subject(s) - pure red cell aplasia , erythropoietin , medicine , antibody , epoetin alfa , aplasia , red cell , bone marrow , red blood cell , anemia , bone marrow aplasia , immunology , gastroenterology
Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) is a rare haematological condition that is characterized by severe aregenerative anaemia due to an almost complete cessation of red blood cell production. While antibody‐mediated PRCA was extremely rare before 1998, the incidence of this disorder increased sharply after 1998 in patients receiving subcutaneous epoetin alfa produced by Ortho‐Biotech and marketed outside the USA. The diagnosis of antibody‐mediated PRCA relies mostly on the results of bone marrow biopsy or aspirate, which shows an absence of erythroid precursors and/or red cell maturation arrest while counts of white cell and platelet precursors are normal, and on the identification of circulating anti‐erythropoietin antibodies. Retrospective analysis of PRCA cases has shown that immunosuppressive therapy can induce a disappearance of anti‐erythropoietin antibodies in most patients.