Benzene Exposure and Hematopoietic Malignancies: An Interview with David Pyatt, Ph.D.

HarrisMartin: What is the difference between the diseases that have been linked to benzene exposure (i.e., aplastic anemia, acute myelogenous leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, etc)?

David Pyatt, Ph.D.: Aplastic anemia (AA) is a non-malignant condition resulting in hematopoietic failure of the bone marrow. As a result, patients will often present with severe cytopenias and associated pathological sequalae. Many investigators believe there might be an auto-immune component to the disease as some therapeutic benefit can be derived from treatment with specific immunosuppressive agents (ATG). The development of AA has been linked to treatment with many type of drugs (chloramphenicol for example) and …