Alterations in

White Blood Cells

Anca Bacârea, Alexandru Schiopu
Hematopoiesis
 The generation of blood cells takes place in the hematopoietic (from
the Greek haima for “blood” and poiesis for “making”) system.
 The hematopoietic system encompasses all of the blood cells and
their precursors, the bone marrow where blood cells have their
origin, and the lymphoid tissues where some blood cells circulate as
they develop and mature.
 Blood consists of blood cells (i.e., white blood cells, thrombocytes or
platelets, and red blood cells) and the plasma in which the cells are
suspended.
Hematopoiesis
Leukocytes (White Blood Cells)
 The leukocytes, or white blood
cells, constitute only 1% of the
total blood volume.
 They originate in the bone marrow
and circulate throughout the
lymphoid tissues of the body.
 There they function in the
inflammatory and immune
processes.
 They include:
 the granulocytes
 Neutrophils – 55-65%
 Eosinophils – 1-4%
 Basophils – 0-1%
 the lymphocytes – 20-40%
 the monocytes – 3-8%
Hematopoiesis
 The blood-forming population of bone marrow is made up of three
types of cells:
 Self-renewing stem cells
 Differentiated progenitor (parent) cells
 Functional mature blood cells
 All of the blood cell precursors, of the erythrocyte (i.e., red cell),
myelocyte (i.e., granulocyte or monocyte), lymphocyte (i.e., T
lymphocyte and B lymphocyte), and megakaryocyte (i.e., platelet)
series are derived from a small population of primitive cells called
the pluripotent stem cells.
 A committed stem cell that forms a specific type of blood cell is
called a colony-forming unit (CFU).
 Under normal conditions, the numbers and total mass for each type
of circulating blood cell remain relatively constant.
 The blood cells are produced in different numbers according to
needs and regulatory factors.
Hematopoiesis
 This regulation of blood cells is controlled by a group of short-acting
soluble mediators, called cytokines, that stimulate the proliferation,
differentiation, and functional activation of the various blood cell
precursors in bone marrow.
 The cytokines that stimulate hematopoiesis are called colony-stimulating
factors (CSFs), based on their ability to promote the growth of the
hematopoietic cell colonies from bone marrow precursors.
 Lineage-specific CSFs that act on committed progenitor cells include:
 erythropoietin (EPO)
 granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)
 thrombopoietin (TPO)
 The major sources of the CSFs are lymphocytes and stromal cells of the
bone marrow.
 Other cytokines, such as the interleukins, support the development of
lymphocytes and act synergistically to aid the functions of the CSFs.
The lymphoid tissues
 The lymphoid tissues represent the structures where lymphocytes originate,
mature, and interact with antigens.
 Lymphoid tissues can be classified into two groups:
 The central or generative organs:
 Bone marrow, where all lymphocytes arise, and the thymus, where T
cells mature and reach a stage of functional competence.
 Thymus is also the site where self-reactive T cells are eliminated.
 Peripheral lymphoid organs
 These are the sites where mature lymphocytes respond to foreign
antigens.
 They include:
 The lymph nodes
 The spleen
 Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues
 The cutaneous immune system
 In addition, poorly defined aggregates of lymphocytes are found in
connective tissues and virtually all organs of the body.
Disorders of white blood cells
 The number of leukocytes, or white blood cells, in the peripheral circulation
normally ranges from 4000 to 10,000/μL of blood.
 The term leukopenia describes an absolute decrease in white blood cell
numbers. The disorder may affect any of the specific types of white blood
cells:
 Neutropenia

 Lymphopenia

 The term leukocytosis describes an absolute increase in in white blood cell

numbers and also may affect any of the specific types of white blood cells:
 Neutrophilia

 Eosiniphilia

 Basophilia

 Lymphocitosis

 Monocitosis
Neutropenia
 Neutropenia refers specifically to a decrease in neutrophils. It commonly
is defined as a circulating neutrophil count of less than 1500 cells/μL.
 Agranulocytosis, which denotes a severe neutropenia, is characterized
by a circulating neutrophil count of less than 200 cells/μL.
 Neutropenia can be:
 Acquired
 Congenital
 Kostmann’s syndrome
 It occurs sporadically as an autosomal recessive disorder, causes
severe neutropenia while preserving the erythroid and megakaryocyte
cell lineages that result in red blood cell and platelet production.
 The total white blood cell count may be within normal limits, but the
neutrophil count is less than 200/μL. Monocyte and eosinophil levels
may be elevated (compensatory).
Acquired neutropenia
 Accelerated removal - removal of neutrophils from the circulation
exceeds production
 Inflammation
 Infection, viral or bacterial
 Increased destruction:
 Drug-induced granulocytopenia
 Treatment of cancer – chemotherapy (e.g., alkylating agents,
antimetabolites)
 Irradiation
 Autoimmune disorders or drug reactions
 May cause increased and premature destruction of neutrophils
 Splenomegaly
 Neutrophils may be trapped in the spleen along with other
blood cells
 Felty’s syndrome
 A variant of rheumatoid arthritis, there is increased destruction
of neutrophils in the spleen
 Neoplasms involving bone marrow (e.g., leukemias and
lymphomas, myeloma)
Acquired neutropenia
 Alcoholism
 Carentiale states:
 Folic acid

 Vitamin B12

 Iron

 Cooper

 Aplastic anemia
 All of the myeloid stem cells are affected, resulting in anemia,
thrombocytopenia, and agranulocytosis;
 Idiopathic neutropenia that occurs in the absence of other disease
or provoking influence.
Neutrophilia
 Physiological:
 In newborns
 Pregnancy
 In labor
 Post-partum
 After exercise
 Drugs or toxics:
 Administration of corticosteroids - may increase the release of
neutrophils from the bone marrow and reduce their migration into
tissues;
 Acute poisoning with Pb, Hg, some venoms;
 Reactive neutrophilia - the result of increased release of neutrophils from
MB to compensate their high affinity for tissues. It is frequently accompanied
by deviation to the left of the leukocyte formula (leukemoid reaction);
 Metabolic and endocrine diseases:
 Diabetic ketoacidosis
 Acute renal failure
 Acute gout crise
 In some malignant hematologic diseases: CGL, MPCD (PV, ET, CMML)
Eosinophilia
 Allergic diseases: asthma, allergic rhinitis, eczema, atopic dermatitis
 Parasitic infections
 Fungal and other infections
 Tuberculosis
 Hematologic malignancies (CGL, AL with Eo, LAM2 and 4, rarely in
MDS) and nonhematologic (lung, vaginal, skin, stomach carcinoma,
malignant melanoma)
 Idiopathic - is diagnosis of exclusion
 Drugs: aspirin, beta blockers, penicillin, cephalosporins, NSAIDs,
etc.
 Bacterial infections usually does not cause eosinophilia, but
eosinopenia.
Lymphocytosis
 Causes of absolute lymphocytosis include:
 Acute viral infections, such as infectious mononucleosis
(glandular fever), hepatitis and cytomegalovirus infection
 Other acute infections such as pertussis
 Protozoal infections, such as toxoplasmosis
 Chronic intracellular bacterial infections such as tuberculosis or
brucellosis
 Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
 Causes of relative lymphocytosis include:
 Age less than 2 years
 Acute viral infections
 Connective tissue diseases
 Thyrotoxicosis
 Splenomegaly with splenic sequestration of granulocytes
 Exercise
 Stress
Infectious mononucleosis
 Infectious mononucleosis is
caused by the Epstein-Barr
virus, a DNA herpes-type
virus that infects B
lymphocytes.
 Patients present with mild to
severe adenopathy,
hepatosplenomegaly, fever,
malaise, pharyngitis, and a
characteristic peripheral
blood smear demonstrating
reactive lymphocytes.
Monocytosis
 Monocytosis often occurs during chronic inflammation. Diseases
that produce this state:
 Infections: tuberculosis, brucellosis, listeriosis, subacute bacterial
endocarditis, syphilis, and other viral infections and many
protozoal and rickettsial infections;
 Blood and immune causes: chronic neutropenia and
myeloproliferative disorders;
 Autoimmune diseases and vasculitis: systemic lupus
erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel
disease;
 Malignancies: Hodgkin's disease and certain leukaemias, such
as chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML) and monocytic
leukemia;
 Recovery phase of neutropenia or an acute infection;
Monocytopenia
 The causes of monocytopenia include:
 Acute infections

 Stress

 Aplastic anemia

 Hairy cell leukemia

 Acute myeloid leukemia

 Treatment with myelotoxic drugs

 Treatment with glucocorticoids

Basophilia
 Surgical, procedure complication
 Splenectomy  Allergic, collagen autoimmune
 Infectious disorders (specific agent) disorders
 Herpes Zoster  Congenital, developmental
 Influenza disorders
 Chickenpox/herpes zoster virus  congenital hemolytic anemia
 Smallpox (variola)  Hereditary, familial, genetic
 Infected organ, abscesses disorders
 Inflammatory disorders  Spherocytosis
 Neoplastic disorders:
 Acute myeloid leukemia
 Vegetative, autonomic, endocrine
disorders
 Hodgkin's disease
 Myelodysplastic syndrome
 Hypothyroidism (myxedema)
 Chronic myeloid leukemia
 Leukemoid reaction
 Polycythemia vera  Drugs
 Lymphoma/malignant, non-  Foreign protein injection
Hodgkins
The neoplastic disorders
 The neoplastic disorders of hematopoietic and lymphoid origin
represent the most important of the white blood cell disorders.
 They include three somewhat overlapping categories:
 The lymphomas (Hodgkin’s disease and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma)
 The leukemias
 Plasma cell dyscrasias (multiple myeloma)
Lymphomas
Leukemias
 Leukemias are malignant neoplasms of the hematopoietic stem cells with
diffuse replacement of bone marrow.
 Leukemias are classified according to cell type
 Lymphocytic
 Myelogenous
 and whether the disease is acute or chronic.
 The lymphocytic leukemias involve immature lymphocytes and their
progenitors that originate in the bone marrow but infiltrate the spleen, lymph
nodes, CNS, and other tissues.
 The myelogenous leukemias involve the pluripotent myeloid stem cells in
bone marrow and interfere with the maturation of all blood cells, including
the granulocytes, erythrocytes, and thrombocytes.
 The acute leukemias (i.e., ALL, which primarily affects children, and AML,
which primarily affects adults) have a sudden and stormy onset, with
symptoms of depressed bone marrow function:
 Anemia
 Fatigue
 Bleeding
 Infections
 Bone pain
 Lymphadenopathy
 Splenomegaly
 Hepatomegaly
Leukemias
 The chronic leukemias, which largely affect adults, have a more
insidious onset.
 CLL often has the most favorable clinical course, with many persons
living long enough to die of unrelated causes.
 The course of CML is slow and progressive, with transformation to a
course resembling that of AML.
Leukemias AML/ALL
Multiple Myeloma
 Multiple myeloma is a plasma cell cancer of the osseous tissue and
accounts for 10% to 15% of all hematologic malignancies.
 It is characterized by the uncontrolled proliferation of an abnormal
clone of plasma cells, which secrete primarily IgG or IgA.
 There is an atypical proliferation of one of the immunoglobulins,
called the M protein, a monoclonal antibody.
 Levels of normal immunoglobulins are usually depressed. This
contributes a general susceptibility to bacterial infections.
 In some forms of multiple myeloma, the plasma cells produce only
Bence Jones proteins, abnormal proteins that consist of the light
chains of the immunoglobulin molecule.
 Because of their low molecular weight, Bence Jones proteins are
partially excreted in the urine.
 Many of these abnormal proteins are directly toxic to renal
tubular structures, which may lead to tubular destruction and,
eventually, to renal failure.
Pathogenesis
 The cause of multiple myeloma is unknown.
 It does not appear to be caused by previous exposure to toxic
agents (e.g., solvents such as benzene, paints, pesticides).
 Interestingly, an association with human herpesvirus 8 has been
described, but the role of this virus in the pathogenesis of the
disease remains to be established.
 Cytokines are important in the pathogenesis of the disorder.
 The multiple myeloma plasma cell has a surface-membrane
receptor for interleukin-6, which is known to be a growth factor
for the disorder.
 Another important growth factor for the myeloma cell is
interleukin-1, which has important osteoclastic activity.
Multiple Myeloma