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Nishikubo M, Kin Y, Tane S, Nakamura K, Miyagi Y, Miura A, Nishio W, Senzaki H, Uchino K. Cellular cannibalism and consequent thrombocytopenia in a patient with bone marrow metastasis of malignant pleural mesothelioma: A case report. Mol Clin Oncol 2021; 15:163. [PMID: 34194741 PMCID: PMC8237155 DOI: 10.3892/mco.2021.2325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Cellular cannibalism is a tumor activity where a cell is engulfed by another cell. This process promotes tumor cell survival under unfavorable conditions. The current report describes an extremely rare case of thrombocytopenia resulting from cellular cannibalism in a patient with bone marrow metastasis due to malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). A 77-year-old male presented with hemothorax and thrombocytopenia. He was diagnosed with MPM of the sarcomatoid cell type. However, his disease progressed rapidly and he died 11 days after admission. Bone marrow aspiration revealed metastatic MPM cells that had engulfed other blood cells. Accordingly, the observed thrombocytopenia was attributed to cellular cannibalism by metastatic MPM tumor cells. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of thrombocytopenia due to cellular cannibalism in a patient with this type of malignancy (MPM). The results suggested that although MPM rarely metastasizes to the bone marrow, bone marrow aspiration could be useful in such cases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megumi Nishikubo
- Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0012, Japan.,Division of Chest Surgery, Hyogo Cancer Center, Kitaouji-cho, Akashi 673-8558, Japan
| | - Yasuo Kin
- Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0012, Japan
| | - Shinya Tane
- Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0012, Japan.,Division of Chest Surgery, Hyogo Cancer Center, Kitaouji-cho, Akashi 673-8558, Japan
| | - Koji Nakamura
- Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0012, Japan
| | - Yoshimi Miyagi
- Division of Pathology, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0012, Japan
| | - Akiko Miura
- Department of Hematology, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0012, Japan
| | - Wataru Nishio
- Division of Chest Surgery, Hyogo Cancer Center, Kitaouji-cho, Akashi 673-8558, Japan
| | - Hideto Senzaki
- Division of Pathology, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0012, Japan
| | - Kazuya Uchino
- Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0012, Japan
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