Abstract
Many poor-risk neuroblastomas and tumours of the Ewing’s sarcoma family (ET) recur despite autologous transplants. Recurrence may be due to tumor cells contained in the BM harvests or PBSC harvests. The objectives of this prospective study were to: (1) determine the incidence and degree of tumor cell contamination in paired BM and PBSC harvests; and (2) determine the efficacy of tumor cell purging by immunomagnetic CD34+ cell selection. 198 samples from 11 consecutive patients with neuroblastoma or Ewing’s sarcoma were analyzed. We assayed tumor contamination by RT-PCR assay for PGP 9.5, plus immunohistochemistry for neuroblastoma-specific antigens (the latter in neuroblastoma only). None of these patients had tumor cells detected in their BM by clinical histology immediately before BM or PBSC harvests. However, 82% of PBSC and 89% of backup BM harvests were contaminated with tumor by RT-PCR and/or immunocytochemistry assays. Unselected PBSC and BM harvests contained similar quantities of tumor cells (median, 200 000 cells). Cyclophosphamide plus G-CSF mobilization did not affect the incidence or level of contamination in PBSC harvests, as compared to blood obtained before mobilization. Immunomagnetic CD34+ cell selection depleted tumor cells by a median of 3.0 logs for PBSC, and 2.6 logs for BM harvests.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Leung, W., Chen, A., Klann, R. et al. Frequent detection of tumor cells in hematopoietic grafts in neuroblastoma and Ewing’s sarcoma. Bone Marrow Transplant 22, 971–979 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1701471
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1701471
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Significance of hematopoietic surface antigen CD34 in neuroblastoma prognosis and the genetic landscape of CD34-expressing neuroblastoma CSCs
Cell Biology and Toxicology (2021)
-
I Walk the Line: How to Tell MDS From Other Bone Marrow Failure Conditions
Current Hematologic Malignancy Reports (2014)
-
Ewing Sarcoma tumor cells express CD34: implications for autologous stem cell transplantation
Bone Marrow Transplantation (2007)
-
Viral purging of haematological autografts: should we sneeze on the graft?
Bone Marrow Transplantation (2007)
-
Quantitative analysis of bone marrow CD34 cells in aplastic anemia and hypoplastic myelodysplastic syndromes
Leukemia (2006)