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Infusion of unwashed umbilical cord blood stem cells after thawing for allogeneic transplantation

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 34, page 739 (2004)Cite this article

Hahn et al1 recently reported their experience of the laboratory handling of cryopreserved unrelated cord blood (UCB) units prior to infusion, and presented evidence that washing of the cord blood cells after thawing was unnecessary, since there was no engraftment difference between unwashed UCB units (n=18) and washed (n=8). This finding was also recently published by another group, Nagamura-Inoue et al,2 showing similar engraftment results between unwashed and washed CB units.

Although UCB transplantation is becoming more frequently used, the optimal method of preparation of the cells prior to infusion is unclear. The traditional protocol, published in 1995,3 to remove DMSO before infusion, is still used in many transplant centres, but could be considered illogical, as equivalent or greater amounts of DMSO are routinely infused with autologous blood stem cell products, and cell washing of UCB units may lead to unnecessary cell loss. The need for removal of DMSO may also now be reduced due to the improved standards of processing of CB units prior to cryopreservation, particularly the removal of plasma and red blood cells, to obtain CB buffy coat cells, which results in the availability of smaller cryopreserved volumes for storage and infusion.

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References

  1. Hahn T, Bunworasate U, George MC et al. Use of non-volume reduced (unmanipulated after thawing) umbilical cord blood stem cells for allogeneic transplantation results in safe engraftment. Bone Marrow Transplant 2003; 32: 145–150.

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  2. Nagamura-Inoue T, Shioya M, Sugo M et al. Wash-out of DMSO does not improve the speed of engraftment of cord blood transplantation: follow-up of 46 adult patients with units shipped from a single cord blood bank. Transfusion 2003; 43: 1285–1294.

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  3. Rubinstein P, Dobrila L, Rosenfield RE et al. Processing and cryopreservation of placental/umbilical cord blood for unrelated bone marrow reconstitution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1995; 92: 10119–10122.

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  4. Sartor M, Garvin F, Antonenas V et al. No Lyse, viable CD34 assay for the enumeration of hematopoietic stem cell products post cryopreservation. Blood 2003; 102: 462a (abstract 1685).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Westmead and Children's Hospital BMT Unit,

    V Antonenas, P J Shaw & K F Bradstock

  2. Westmead Hospital, Sydney University, Australia

    V Antonenas, P J Shaw & K F Bradstock

  3. Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, Sydney University, Australia

    P J Shaw

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  1. V Antonenas
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  2. P J Shaw
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  3. K F Bradstock
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Antonenas, V., Shaw, P. & Bradstock, K. Infusion of unwashed umbilical cord blood stem cells after thawing for allogeneic transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 34, 739 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1704650

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