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Use of split peripheral blood stem cell harvests in myeloma identifies functional preservation of progenitor cells cryopreserved for several years and demonstrates no functional damage to the bone marrow microenvironment

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 53, pages 764–765 (2018)Cite this article

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Dear Editor,

We read with interest the report from Pavlů and colleagues [1] in which they showed that, in patients with myeloma, the haematological recovery following a second autograft after high-dose melphalan was similar to that after the first autograft when a single mobilisation procedure had been performed and the apheresis product split equally, with one aliquot being used for the first autograft and one for the second. The median interval between infusion of the first and the second half of the harvest was 4.0 (range 2.3–9.6) years and the authors interpreted this as showing there was no loss of progenitor cell potency during the storage in vapour-phase liquid nitrogen. However, it should be noted that significantly more patients received a reduced dose of melphalan (25/50) for the second autograft than prior to the first (9/50) (P = 0.0007), which might potentially influence the recovery times. We present similar data in 22 patients with myeloma at our own institution. Importantly, only two of our patients received a reduced dose of melphalan with the second procedure because of perceived frailty and storage was in a −140 °C mechanical freezer. The median time between transplants was 3.9 (range 1.7–7.5) years. The median time to neutrophil and platelet recovery after the first autograft was 12 and 11 days, respectively and 11 and 10 days after the second procedure (Table 1). In no case was the time to neutrophil recovery >1 day greater than the time to recovery following the first transplant.

Table 1 Engraftment outcome of first (1) and second (2) autograft for myeloma patients receiving half of a divided peripheral blood stem cell harvest stored pretransplant for each procedure
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References

  1. Pavlů J, Auner HW, Szydlo RM, Sevillano B, Palani R, O’Boyle F, et al. Analysis of hematopoietic recovery after autologous transplantation as method of quality control for long-term progenitor cell cryopreservation. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2017;52:1599–601.

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  2. Testa NG, Dexter TM. Long-term hematopoietic damage: concepts, approaches, and results relevant to the study of environmental toxins. Environ Health Perspect. 1989;82:51–6.

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  3. Del Cañizo C, Lopez N, Vasquez L, Fernandez E, Brufau A, Caballero D, et al. Haematopoietic damage persists 1 year after autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant. 1999;23:901–5.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at University College London (UCL)/UCLH.

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  1. University College London Hospitals, London, WC1E 6HX, UK

    Michael John Watts, Stuart James Ings, Jude Dorman, Neil Rabin & David Christopher Linch

  2. University College London, London, UK

    David Christopher Linch

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  1. Michael John Watts
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  2. Stuart James Ings
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  4. Neil Rabin
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Correspondence to Michael John Watts.

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Watts, M.J., Ings, S.J., Dorman, J. et al. Use of split peripheral blood stem cell harvests in myeloma identifies functional preservation of progenitor cells cryopreserved for several years and demonstrates no functional damage to the bone marrow microenvironment. Bone Marrow Transplant 53, 764–765 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-018-0121-9

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