Significance and Detection of Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells in Aplastic Anemia of Childhood

Objective To learn hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) proliferation though detection of BFU-E,CFU-E,CFU-GM and CFU-Meg by HPC culture of bone marrow (BM) from children with aplastic anemia (AA). Methods To detect clone formation unit (CFU) of BFU-E,CFU-E,CFU-GM and CFU-Meg at 7 d or 14 d after cellular culture from 47 children with AA. Results The mean values of four different colonies in 47 patients were significantly lower than those of the control BM. Meanwhile, the mean decrease of these colonies was positively correlated with the severity of the types of diseases. Among 47 patients, the CFU counts of BFU-E (36.17%),CFU-E (85.11%),CFU-GM(74.47%) and CFU-Meg(91.49%) were lower than those of the control. The CFU number of the patients with their BFU-E,CFU-GM and CFU-Meg lower than the donors were positively correlated with the severity of the disease and the decrease of their peripheral blood cells, but not with CFU-E. Conclusion A portion of children with AA have lower quantities of BFU-E,CFU-E,CFU-GM and CFU-Meg, and the quantitive decrease in these colonies is positively correlated with severity of the disease. The change of BFU-E, compared with the change of CFU-E, could represent erythroid proliferation of BM in children with AA.