PeproTech Inc.
Originally published online as doi:10.1189/jlb.0608388 on September 22, 2008

Published online before print September 22, 2008
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
jlb.0608388v1
85/1/20    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Focosi, D.
Right arrow Articles by Petrini, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Focosi, D.
Right arrow Articles by Petrini, M.
(Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 2009;85:20-28.)
© 2009 by Society for Leukocyte Biology

Lithium and hematology: established and proposed uses

Daniele Focosi*,1,2, Antonio Azzarà*, Richard Eric Kast{dagger},1, Giovanni Carulli* and Mario Petrini*

* Division of Hematology, Azienda Ospedaliera Santa Chiara, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy; and
{dagger} Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA

2 Correspondence: Division of Hematology, Azienda Ospedaliera Santa Chiara, University of Pisa, via Roma 56, 56100 Pisa, Italy. E-mail: dfocosi{at}tin.it

Lithium (as lithium carbonate) is an unexpensive drug, widely used in psychiatry for over 50 years in treatment of mood instability (bipolar disorder) and as an adjunct to antidepressants. Hematological effects of neutrophilia and increased circulating CD34+ cells of marrow origin have long been known. Lithium was at the center of hematological investigations in the 1980s, but no definitive use in hematology has yet emerged. We review evidence that lithium increases G-CSF and augments G-CSF effects. We suggest possible therapeutic uses of lithium in neutropenia. In bone marrow transplantation, preharvest lithium-assisted hematopoietic stem cell mobilization may be useful as well.

Key Words: stem cell mobilization • stem cell transplantation • engraftment • CD34 • neutropenia