Immunosuppression or Androgen Therapy for Aplastic Anemia: A Cooperative Study

Abstract

The results of immunosuppression or androgen therapy for aplastic anemia in 23 institutions in Japan were analyzed. The in vitro test for the detection of suppressor cells in peripheral blood of the patients, and the effect of fluoxymesterone on the erythroid colony formation of bone marrow cells of the patients were also examined. The immunosuppression therapy includes the menthylprednisolone pulse therapy, antilymphocyte globulin administration, and oral administration of prednisolone or cyclophosphamide.
Immunosuppression therapy was effective in 37.5% of 72 cases of aplastic anemia on the whole. There was no correlation between the clinical response to the immunosuppression therapy and the suppressive activity of mononuclear cells in vitro. Antilymphocyte globulin was effective in 35.3% of 17 cases of severe aplastic anemia, but there were no patients who had recovered to the normal hematological values.
Androgens were clinically effective in 64% of 50 cases of aplastic anemia. There was no correlation, however, between the clinical response to androgens and the in vitro responsiveness of bone marrow cells to fluoxymesterone.