We describe three patients who had typical features of hairy cell leukemia (HCL) and multiple myeloma (MM) at the same time. In two, both diagnoses were made within a short period of time, and in the third, HCL had been present for 2 yr before the appearance of a paraprotein, bone lesions, and plasma-cell infiltrates established the diagnosis of MM. Although this association has not been previously reported, cases of HCL with osteolytic lesions or a paraprotein band have been described. The cases described may represent clinical manifestations of closely related disorders arising from divergent differentiation from a common B-cell precursor rather than a chance association.
L-alpha-Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.8) has been reported to be absent in the erythrocytes of normal adults, but can be found in those of cord blood and of thalassemia major. The aid of this study was to investigate whether there is any relation between GDH and gamma-chain synthesis. Erythrocyte GDH activity was determined on 118 different blood samples. It was undetectable in normal adult erythrocytes and definitely high in cord blood cells (23.6 UI/10(11) RBC). Considerable GDH activity was also noted in patients with thalassemia major (11.0 IU10(11) RBC) as well as in cases with pronounced reticulocytosis (11.4 IU/10(11) RBC). Red cells from beta- thalassemia heterozygotes exhibited moderate but distinct GDH activity (5.2 IU/10(11) RBC). After fractionation into young and old erythrocyte populations, clearly higher GDH activity was found in the younger cells; however, there was no significant correlation with the reticulocyte count. Presence of reticulocytes alone appears insufficient to explain the values obtained in cord blood and the thalassemias, especially heterozygous. Furthermore, no direct correlation between GDH and fetal hemoglobin (HbF) was obtained in cord and thalassemic erythrocytes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.