Antibody-mediated neutropenia following bone marrow transplantation.

Unexpected neutropenia following allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation may be caused by graft rejection, intrinsic stem cell failure, infection, graft-versus-host disease, relapse of the underlying neoplasm, or drug-induced myelosuppression. Over the past decade an increasing number of reports have documented that the differential diagnosis also includes antibody-mediated neutropenia, a syndrome distinct from conventional graft rejection. In contrast to many of the other common causes of unexpected post-transplant neutropenia, antibody-mediated neutropenia usually responds well to treatment with corticosteroids, plasma exchange, intravenous immunoglobulin, splenectomy, or other similar measures.