Fujita Yoshimasa, Fujii Takao, Takeda Naho, Tanaka Masao, Mimori Tsuneyo
Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, USA.
Intern Med. 2007;46(5):251-4. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.46.1881. Epub 2007 Mar 1.
We report a patient with Sjögren's syndrome and chronic natural killer lymphocytosis, who developed severe neutropenia, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, and immune thrombocytopenia. High-dose prednisolone therapy improved the hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia, but not the CD16(+) CD56(-) NK lymphocytosis completely. Interestingly, indomethacin farnesil (a prodrug of indomethacin) was effective for myalgia and also decreased the number of CD16(+) CD56(-) NK cells. NK lymphocytosis is rarely associated with autoimmune disease, but the combination of indomethacin and steroid therapy may have a favorable effect for such patients.