Biology:LE cell

From HandWiki
Microphotograph of a macrophage that has phagocytized a lymphocyte (LE cell). May Grünwald Giemsa stain.

A lupus erythematosus cell (LE cell), also known as Hargraves cell, is a neutrophil or macrophage that has phagocytized (engulfed) the denatured nuclear material of another cell.[1] The denatured material is an absorbed hematoxylin body (also called an LE body).[2]

They are a characteristic of lupus erythematosus,[3] but also found in similar connective tissue disorders or some autoimmune diseases like in severe rheumatoid arthritis. LE cells can be observed in drug-induced lupus, for example, following treatment with methyldopa.[4]

The LE cell was discovered in bone marrow in 1948 by Malcolm McCallum Hargraves (1903–1982), a physician and practicing histologist at the Mayo Clinic.[5] Hargraves may have gained priority by suppressing a publication draft of John R. Haserick, who credits Dorothy Sundberg, chief hematologist at the University of Minnesota Hospitals, with first identifying LE cells.[6]

Classically, the LE cell is analyzed microscopically, but it is also possible to investigate this phenomenon by flow cytometry.[7]

LE cells shouldn't be confused with Tart cells which have engulfed nuclear material, but with a visible chromatin rather than homogeneous appearance.[8]

References

  1. "Medical Definition of LE CELL". https://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/LE+cell. 
  2. similima.com > Autoimmunity Muhammed Muneer. Retrieved March 2011
  3. "LE Cell Test. Lupus erythematosus test". http://www.drugsfreelist.com/health_articles/4002/LE_Cell_Test__Lupus_erythematosus_test__. 
  4. Cheesbrough, Monica (2000-10-26). District Laboratory Practice in Tropical Countries. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521665452. https://books.google.com/books?id=PHPx140zdowC&pg=PA295. 
  5. Hargraves M, Richmond H, Morton R. Presentation of two bone marrow components, the tart cell and the LE cell. Mayo Clin Proc 1948;27:25–28.
  6. Discovery of the LE factor Dermatopathology: Practical & Conceptual
  7. Böhm, Ingrid (1 January 2004). "Flow Cytometric Analysis of the LE Cell Phenomenon". Autoimmunity 37 (1): 37–44. doi:10.1080/08916930310001630325. PMID 15115310. 
  8. Li, Qing Kay; Khalbuss, Walid E. (2015) (in en). Diagnostic Cytopathology Board Review and Self-Assessment. Springer, New York, NY. pp. 179. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-1477-7_2. ISBN 9781493914760.