Overview
We hypothesize that a large group of medical conditions of unknown etiology including leukemia, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic and autoimmune disorders, may be associated with or caused by an obscure group of intracellular obligate parasitic bacteria named Ehrlichia/Anaplasma (EA). Ensconced in the stem cells of the bone marrow, EA may disrupt the normal development and function of many of the cells of immunity, manifesting itself as different syndromes. Recent studies of the activity of EA suggest direct effects on the immune system consistent with the manifestations of leukemia. We reference here three leukemia patients with direct or indirect evidence of EA infection. Moreover, EA have been shown to be most sensitive to rifamycins. Two moribund leukemia patients with levels of platelets and white cells incompatible with life were treated with therapeutic doses of Rifampin. Though they did not survive, their condition improved dramatically for a time, suggesting Rifampin provided some therapeutic benefit. We assert that these results warrant more extensive study.
Overview source: Curated paper metadata.
Methods and contributions
Read the source for the full argument, qualifications, and evidence.
Findings and contributions
- Hypothesizes that leukemia, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic and autoimmune disorders may be associated with or caused by Ehrlichia/Anaplasma bacteria.
- Recounts a previously reported case in which an AML patient's leukocytes rose from 200 to 24,000 within a short period of Rifampin treatment.
- The authors describe the three cases as not definitive but as suggestive evidence of a connection between leukemia and EA.
- Proposes that leukemia may be an antibiotic-treatable infection rather than a malignancy, under this conceptualization.
- Concludes that the data do not prove the hypothesis and that further serology and DNA studies are needed.
Methods
- Clinical description of three illustrative patient cases — Presents three cases (ALL, AML, and polycythemia vera progressing to AML) as direct or indirect evidence for the hypothesis, citing an earlier report.
- Therapeutic-dose Rifampin given to two moribund leukemia patients — Two patients received Rifampin after other treatments were exhausted; their subsequent blood counts and condition are reported.
- Peripheral blood film and PCR analysis in one patient — In the third case, blood-film inclusions resembling EA prompted PCR analysis, which indicated a previously unreported Ehrlichia.
- Appendix synthesizing EA transcriptomic and molecular-interaction studies — Appendix A reviews published THP1 transcriptomic, ChIP-chip and yeast-two-hybrid studies of E. chaffeensis to compare with leukemia biology.
Summary sources: Paper metadata and evidence · Extracted source text.
Document downloads
PDFs are hosted here; supporting sources may use pinned archives.
- 2015_EhrlichialInfection.pdf PDF · 0.21 MiB · extracted-text source
Citation
Citation metadata follows the unified bibliography.
Catalog details and resources
Related works
Ranked by recorded methods, topics, contributors and associated software, with contributor roles and domain-only matches labelled. Metadata overlap is not a citation or a scientific equivalence.