Vol.23 No.6

Case Report

A case of an SLE patient with febrile neutropenia who experienced exacerbation of cutaneous manifestations after the administration of G-CSF

Authors

Takashi Sakai 1 , Yutaka Hatano1 , Itomi Abe2 , Koji Ishii2 , Sakuhei Fujiwara1

  • Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oita, 1-1 Idaigaoka, Hasama-machi, Yufu Oita, 879-5593, Japan
  • Department of Internal Medicine I, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oita, Oita, Japan
Received:

11 January 2012

Accepted:

6 August 2012

Published online:

30 August 2012

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Abstract

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease. Although hematological anomalies are commonly found in SLE, severe polymorphonuclear leukocyte depletion is rare. Most episodes of severe granulocytopenia in SLE patients tend to occur as part of drug toxicity-induced medullar hypoplasia, and recombinant human (rh) granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) has been shown to be effective for treating neutropenia associated with SLE.
However, flares of some autoimmune diseases, including flares in six SLE patients, have been reported after G-CSF therapy. This report presents the case of a patient with SLE who experienced exacerbation of skin symptoms after G-CSF therapy. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that G-CSF can exacerbate inflammatory disease. Furthermore, the possibility that several factors other than rhG-CSF may affect the disease activity of SLE should be considered when SLE patients with neutropenia require the administration of rhG-CSF. Therefore rhG-CSF should be used with considerable caution in neutropenic patients with SLE.

Key words

G-CSF, Immune reconstitution syndrome, Neutropenia, SLE