[Bone marrow transplantation for aplastic anaemia and acute leukaemia (author's transl)]. / Knochenmarktransplantation bei Panmyelopathie und akuter Leukämie. Resultate des Westdeutschen Tumorzentrums Essen.

Twenty-six bone marrow transplantations were performed at the West Germany Tumour Centre at Essen between December 1975 and December 1981. Three patients had aplastic anaemia, 23 acute leukaemia. Of the leukaemia patients 13 had a recurrence and ten were in full remission at the time of the transplantation. Two of the patients with a recurrence received deep-frozen autologous marrow from the remission phase. One patient with aplastic anaemia had an identical twin as donour, while all other patients received allogeneic marrow from histocompatible family members. Eleven patients are still alive, all three of those with aplastic anaemia, one of those with leukaemia in a recurrence, and seven of those with acute leukaemia in full remission. Two of the survivors have a chronic graft-host reaction, but the others are symptom-free, after an observation period of up to four years. Main causes of death were leukemic recurrence (6), infection (5), and graft-host reaction (2). It would seem that at present bone marrow transplantation offers the best chance of a cure for severe aplastic anaemic and acute leukaemia in adults, but only if transplantation is undertaken early and not in the end-stage of the disease.

[Measurement of serum ferritin in blood donors with reference to donation intervals]. / Serumferritinuntersuchungen bei Blutspendern zur Frage des Spendeabstandes.

Serum ferritin shows a high correlation to the storage iron in the reticuloendothelial cells of the bone marrow. Therefore it is a reliable test to watch over the body iron stores of blood donors. Measurements were made on 284 donors (171 male, 113 female) with a donation interval of 12 weeks without iron therapy and on 59 subjects (20 male, 39 female) with a donation interval of 6 weeks receiving 100 mg Fe2+/day. In the immunoradiometric determination of serum ferritin all groups showed a steady decrease of the values to a subnormal but not yet anemic level. Women could bear the short-donation intervals with oral iron supplementation better than the longer intervals without the iron therapy. Men did not show any significant differences in the ferritin values. In times of increased demand for blood or before planned autologous transfusions, the donation intervals can be shortened, if an oral iron supplementation is guaranteed. Female donors should get iron at each phlebotomy.

On the genetics and population genetics of Gm(4).

Investigations on 70 German families with 142 children confirmed the autosomal-dominant inheritance of Gm(4). However, in our material as well as in the materials published so far, Gm(4) X Gm(-4) parental combinations show clear surplusses of Gm(4) and deficits of Gm(-4) children, which might indicate prenatal selection. The world distribution of Gm4 alleles reveals a remarkable racial heterogeneity. Furthermore, marked North-South distribution gradients in Caucasoids and Mongoloids were found. The genetical and population genetical observations are discussed.