What Causes Neutrophilia?
Neutrophilia is a term used to describe a condition where there are too many neutrophils circulating in the blood. Between forty and sixty percent of all white blood cells in the body are neutrophils. Neutrophils are the first to respond to foreign pathogens that invade into the body. When cells around the body become damaged, chemokines are released and attract neutrophils to the site. Neutrophils mediate foreign pathogens by undergoing the processes of endocytosis and phagocytosis or engulfing the pathogens. Once engulfed, specialized enzymes in neutrophils induce the destruction of the pathogen. A healthy individual typically has between 2500 and 7500 neutrophils per microliter of blood. Neutrophilia has numerous causes that can be classified into three groups. Reactive neutrophilia is an active response to stress or infection. Proliferative neutrophilia happens when some mechanism causes the bone marrow to overproduce neutrophils. Demargination occurs when specific neutrophils detach from the blood vessel lining and remain circulating in the blood.
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Arthritis
Individuals affected by arthritis may develop neutrophilia as a result of their inflammatory condition. Neutrophils are the main type of white blood cell that contributes to the trigger and progression of arthritis in affected individuals. Neutrophils play this role by their release of molecules that are toxic to other living cells in the body and molecules that mediate responses between macrophages and lymphocytes. Neutrophils in individuals who have arthritis have different cellular properties than those in healthy individuals. Rheumatoid arthritis patients have neutrophils with delayed cellular death and a more sophisticated ability to generate reactive oxygen species, activate and deactivate certain genes, and expression of high-affinity FcY receptors on the cell membrane. Arthritis patients also have an immune system that exhibits a defect in their function of neutrophil clearance due to the autoimmunity nature of arthritis. In some cases of autoimmune disorders such as arthritis, neutrophils may be the point of supply of the specific autoantigens or antibodies that propel the underlying mechanisms that result in the autoimmune disease. It is a combination of neutrophil apoptosis delay, clearance defects of neutrophils, and other abnormal properties of neutrophils that can cause an individual with arthritis to also be affected by neutrophilia.
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Certain Forms Of Leukemia
An individual's neutrophilia can be caused by certain forms of leukemia or blood malignancies. Chronic myeloid leukemia is a malignancy that begins in an affected individual's bone marrow or blood-forming tissues. In the beginning stages of this type of leukemia, the bone marrow produces an excess amount of white blood cells. However, myeloblasts or immature white blood cells begin to accumulate in the patient's bone marrow and blood, resulting in a decrease of red blood cell and platelet production. Acute myeloid leukemia also causes neutrophilia, but on a much quicker timeline than its chronic form. Myelofibrosis is a chronic form of leukemia where an affected individual's bone marrow is replaced by scar tissue. This results in an excess of red and white blood cells that do not fully mature and cannot function as healthy cells. Chronic neutrophilic leukemia is a slow-growing malignancy of the bone marrow where it makes too many neutrophils, a specific type of white blood cell. Acute neutrophilic leukemia also causes neutrophilia but grows at a much faster rate.
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