Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2003, 199(2)

The Absolute Number of Peripheral Blood CD34+ Cells Predicts
a Timing for Apheresis and Progenitor Cell Yield in Patients
with Hematologic Malignancies and Solid Tumors

YOSHINORI KUDO,1 MASAYOSHI MINEGISHI,1 NAOKO SAITO,1 TSUNEO ITOH,1 JUNKO FUSHIMI,1
HIROYUKI TAKAHASHI,1 AKIRA SUZUKI,1 AYUKO NARITA,1 YUKO SATO,1 JUNKO MIURA,1
KAZUE YOSHIHARA,1 KUNIAKI MEGURO,2 MASUE IMAIZUMI,3 MAKOTO SATO,4
YASUKO MURAKAWA5 and SHIGERU TSUCHIYA1,6

1Division of Blood Transfusion, Tohoku University Hospital,Sendai 980-8574, 2Department of Rheumatology and Hematology, 3Department of Pediatrics, 4Department of Urology, 5Department of Clinical Oncology, and 6Department of Pediatric Oncology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575

Retrospective analysis was conducted in 51 autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) collections using the Spectra AutoPBSCTM System from patients with hematologic malignancies and solid tumors to study the predictive value of CD34+ cell counts in the peripheral blood for the yield of CD34+ cells in the apheresis product. The correlation coefficients for CD34+ cells m L-1 of peripheral blood with CD34+ cell yield (×106 kg-1 of body weight and ×105 kg-1 of body weight L-1 of blood processed) were 0.903 and 0.778 (n=51 collections), respectively. Products collected from patients with CD34+ cell counts below 15 mL-1 in the peripheral blood contained a median of 0.49×106 CD34+ cells kg-1 (range: 0.05-2.55), whereas those with CD34+ cell counts more than 15 mL-1 contained a median of 3.72×106 CD34+ cells kg-1 (range: 1.06-37.57). From these results, a number of at least 15 CD34+ cells mL-1 in the peripheral blood ensured a minimum yield of 1×106 CD34+ cells kg-1 as obtained by a single apheresis procedure. The number of CD34+ cells in the peripheral blood can be used as a good predictor for timing of apheresis and estimating PBPC yield. With regard to our results, apheresis with a possibly poor efficiency should be avoided because the collection procedure is time-consuming and expensive.

Keywords —— apheresis yield; CD34+ cell; peripheral blood progenitor cell collection

© 2003 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2003, 199, 111-118

Address for reprints: Masayoshi Minegishi, M.D., Division of Blood Transfusion, Tohoku University Hospital, 1-1 Seiryomachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8574, Japan.

e-mail: minegisi@idac.tohoku.ac.jp