Clin Pediatr Hematol Oncol.
2012 Oct;19(2):100-104.
Two Cases of Autoimmune Neutropenia of Infancy
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Pediatrics, Eulji University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. aym3216@eulji.ac.kr
- 2Department of Clinical Pathology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
Abstract
- Autoimmune neutropenia of infancy (AIN) is caused by increased peripheral destruction of neutrophils as a result of antibodies in patients' blood that are directed against their own neutrophils. Due to non-specific symptoms, benign clinical courses, and cumbersome diagnostic tests, AIN are commonly undetected. Antineutrophil antibody test for diagnosis of AIN has recently become available. Compared to its relatively lower absolute neutrophil count (ANC), the clinical course of AIN is mostly benign. Therefore, although treatment is not usually necessary for AIN, it is applicable in order to rule out other significant diseases, such as severe congenital neutropenia (SCN), which can be transformed to myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myelocytic leukemia. For this reason, several treatments can be used for neutropenia: granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) for SCN, trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) for prophylaxis. Here we report on two cases of AIN confirmed by indirect immunofluorescence test using flow cytometry.