Aplastic Anemia Essay

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Yearly, around six hundred to nine hundred people are diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia within the United States. Aplastic Anemia is a autoimmune hematological disorder that causes pancytopenia which is a reduction in major blood components, namely, erythrocytes, leukocytes and platelets. This disease has been labelled as a type of bone marrow failure, that is often due to not one but a variety of disorders that occur simultaneously. Aplastic Anemia can therefore be defined as a bone marrow disorder that is often rare, non contagious, and can often be life threatening.

immunity explained on a cellular level
Although Aplastic Anemia is idiopathic, meaning the cause of this disorder is still unknown. Researches suggests that triggers can set this disorder of the immunity off. These triggers include, radiation or chemotherapy treatments, as they can damage healthy cells. Some medications, such as antibiotics or those that are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. As well as viruses such a parvovirus 19. Before we can understand the the complexity of Aplastic Anemia lets take a closer look at the body’s natural adaptive immunity. Starting with the main component, our bone marrow. Bone marrow is produced via hematopoiesis in the medullary cavities located in the epiphysis and diaphysis of long bones. It is composed of myeloid tissue which is spongy and slightly gelatinous in texture. There are a few reasons why bone marrow is of importance to us. Firstly it is the site of production of undifferentiated cells, known as multipotent stem cells. These stem cells can later be transcribed into a variety of different cell types but are mostly transcribed into erythrocytes. Erythrocytes are vital to our bodies homeostasis because they provide ...

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...the T-cell can either produce antibodies, or can kill the cell entirely. There are a few types of T-cells namely, helper t-cells- which release cytokins to stimulate other lymphocytes to help isolate the antigen. The second is cytotoxic T-cells which are a CD8 co receptor and have the ability to kill antigens directly. These two cells plus Leukocytes are what in turn run our immune cells.

autoimmune disease and aplastic anemia
Now that we understand how B-cells and T-cells fight antigens to help protect us. What occurs during an autoimmune disorder, specifically Aplastic Anemia? An auto immune response is an immune response against ones owns cells. Further more autoimmune diseases can be classified into 3 categories; haemolytic autoimmune disease, which is a abnormalities with regards to the blood. Localized autoimmune disease which specifically targets one organ

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