Blood, 1957, Vol. 12, No. 8, pp. 701-709.
© 1957 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
An Abnormal Hemolytic System Associated with Leukemia
and Other Disseminated Malignant Diseases
WILLIAM H. CROSBY 1 and
NAOMI R. BENJAMIN 1
1 Department of Hematology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Walter
Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
1. In the blood of some people with leukemia and other disseminated neoplastic diseases it is possible to demonstrate an abnormal hemolytic mechanism
by incubating sterile blood in vitro at 37 C. for 24 hours. There is a latent period
of 6 to 8 hours before hemolysis begins. Hemolysis can be inhibited by an excess
of glucose or by low pH and also by removal of calcium. The heat stability of the
system indicates that the plasmal abnormality is not enzymatic.
2. It is suggested that hemolysis is due to a reaction between ionic calcium and
some component of the erythrocyte. The nature of the plasma abnormality
that permits the reaction is not known.
3. The significance of this phenomenon in the pathogenesis of anemia in neoplastic disease has not been established.
Submitted on January 29, 1957
Accepted on March 27, 1957
