[Cyclosporin for pure red cell aplasia caused rapid improvement of anemia and increase of CD4/8 ratio].

: Ciclosporine (CS) caused rapid improvement of anemia and increase of CD 4/8 ratio in two patients with pure red cell aplasia (PRCA). One case was a 45 year old female who were unresponsive to steroids, plasmapheresis and high dose cyclophosphamide, and another was a 61 years old man with diabetes mellitus (DM) without any treatment for PRCA. In both cases hemoglobin increased soon after the initiation of CS and CD 4/8 ratio also rose from 0.80 to 1.47 and 1.78 to 1.98, respectively. There was no side effects to interrupt the course of the therapy. CS seems to inhibit the production of cytokines such as IL-2 and IFN-gamma, and it damages the activated suppressor/cytotoxic T cells. CS is an effective drug for not only refractory cases but the first step therapy for the untreated patients.