People who have aplastic anemia may need to undergo bone marrow transplantation if immunosuppressive therapy fails. Bone marrow transplantation can have significant toxic effects, requires a lengthy hospitalization, and can be performed only in certain situations. Generally, it isn't used to treat neutropenia alone. The two main types of lymphocytes are B lymphocytes, also called B cells, and T lymphocytes, also called T cells. B cells originate and mature in the bone marrow, whereas T cells originate in bone marrow but mature in the thymus gland.
B cells develop into plasma cells, which produce antibodies.
Antibodies help the body destroy abnormal cells and infective organisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Killer T cells, which recognize and destroy abnormal or infected cells Helper T cells, which help other cells destroy infective organisms Suppressor T cells, which suppress the activity of other lymphocytes so they don't destroy normal tissue Normally, lymphocytes constitute 15 to 40 percent of all white blood cells in the bloodstream. Lymphocytopenia can be caused by a variety of diseases and conditions. The number of lymphocytes can decrease briefly during severe stress and during treatment involving corticosteroids such as prednisone, chemotherapy for cancer, and radiation therapy. Because lymphocytes make up a relatively small proportion of the white blood cells, a reduction in their number may not cause a significant decrease in the total number of white blood cells.