Fax +41 61 306 12 34 E-Mail karger@karger.ch www.karger.com Original Paper Med Princ Pract 2011;20:341–344 DOI: 10.1159/000323769 A Comparison of Jurkat Cell-Reactive Anti-T Lymphocyte Globulin and Fetal Anti-Thymocyte Globulin Preparations in the Treatment of Aplastic Anemia Songul Serefhanoglu   a Yahya Buyukasik   a Tugrul Purnak   b Hakan Goker   a Nılgun Sayinalp   a Ibrahim C. Haznedaroglu   a Osman I. Ozcebe   a   a  Division of Hematology and b  Department of Internal Medicine, Hacettepe University Hospital, Ankara, Turkey Conclusion: Our data showed that none of the patients re- sponded to ATG-F treatment. Hence, despite the small num- ber of the patients, we recommend that ATG-F should not be used for treatment of severe aplastic anemia. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel Introduction Severe aplastic anemia is a life-threatening disease characterized by peripheral blood pancytopenia and hy- pocellular bone marrow. The prevalence of aplastic ane- mia is estimated at 1–2 per 1 million people with a higher incidence in some regions of Asia. Aplastic anemia is a disease of young adults (15–30 years), but a second peak in incidence has been reported in the sixth decade of life [1]. The mechanism of bone marrow failure is immune- mediated such that the suppression of hematopoiesis in aplastic anemia is probably secondary to activated cyto- toxic lymphocytes [2]. Immunosuppressive therapy is a major treatment modality for severe aplastic anemia and anti-thymocyte globin (ATG)/anti-lymphocyte globin (ALG) is usually used. Cyclosporine is another immuno- Key Words Aplastic anemia  Lymphoglobulin   Thymoglobulin   ATG-Fresenius  Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the suc- cess rate and effects on survival of different anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) preparations in patients diagnosed with aplastic anemia. Subjects and Methods: Of the total 24 pa- tients included in the study, 12 were male and 12 female with a median age of 44 years (range 16–72). Nine patients re- ceived Lymphoglobulin , 7 Thymoglobulin  and ATG-Frese- nius  (ATG-F). There was no significant difference between the three treatment groups in terms of severity of aplastic anemia. Results: The estimated 6-month survival rates for ATG-F, Lymphoglobulin and Thymoglobulin groups were 42.9, 77.8 and 71.4%, respectively. The difference in overall survival rates between groups was not significant, most like- ly due to the low number of patients. The most striking result was that none of the patients in the ATG-F preparation group showed any response to treatment. The ATG-F group was found to have a significantly inferior response rate (p = 0.07). Received: February 16, 2010 Accepted: November 8, 2010 Dr. Songul Serefhanoglu Hacettepe University Hospital Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology TR–06030 Ankara (Turkey) Tel. +90 312 305 1453, Fax +90 312 305 1536, E-Mail dr.songul1978  @  yahoo.com © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel 1011–7571/11/0204–0341$38.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/mpp