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Blood, Vol. 96 No. 1 (July 1), 2000:
pp. 58-62
From the Service d'Anatomie Pathologique, Hôpital Paul
Brousse, and UPRES 1596, Université Paris-Sud, Villejuif; UMR
8603 CNRS/Université Paris V, Service d'Histo-Embryologie,
Hôpital, Service d'Anatomie Pathologique, Département de
Pédiatrie and INSERM U429, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades,
Paris; Département de Pédiatrie, Hôpital Debrousse,
Lyon, France; the Department of Immunology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i
Sant Paul, and the Immunology Unit, C. S. Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona,
Spain; Abteilung für Pathologie, Universität Ulm, Ulm,
Germany; and the Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital and
Clinics, Madison, WI.
Reticular dysgenesis is a rare inherited immunodeficiency
characterized by the lack of blood monocytes and neutrophils and low
lymphocyte counts, contrasting with normal red blood cell counts and
normal or decreased platelet counts. Whether dendritic cells or
macrophages, both of which derive primarily from blood monocytes, are
affected in this condition remains unknown. We studied 7 patients with
reticular dysgenesis. Macrophages were present in normal numbers in the
dermis and in the atrophic lymphoid tissues of these patients, proving
that at least some subsets of macrophages can differentiate despite
very low monocyte counts. By contrast, Langerhans cells, which are
CD1a-positive epidermal dendritic cells, were absent in all (n = 5)
patients before bone marrow transplantation. After bone marrow
transplantation, Langerhans cells were present (n = 2), suggesting
that the defect is not related to keratinocyte dysfunction. A split
chimeric reconstitution, characterized by the presence of autologous
blood monocytes able to differentiate in vitro into CD1a-positive
dendritic cells, was observed in a patient who underwent successful
engraftment. These results suggest that an intrinsic cell defect is
unlikely and that a bone marrow-derived factor may be defective in
reticular dysgenesis; it may be responsible for the Langerhans cell
defect but not involved in macrophage differentiation.
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