• Dong Hwan Kim, Sang Kyun Sohn, Nan Young Lee, Jin Ho Baek, Jong Gwang Kim, Dong Il Won, Jang Soo Suh, Kyu Bo Lee, and Im Hee Shin.
• Department of Hematology/Oncology, Kyungpook National University Hospital, 50 Samduk 2-ga, Jung-Gu, Daegu 700-721, Korea.
• Eur. J. Haematol. 2005 Oct 1; 75 (4): 299-308.

BackgroundLittle is known about the role of the CD56+ natural killer (NK) cell dose on the outcome of allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT). Recently, higher dose of NK cells has been associated with a lower incidence of severe graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The current study attempted to evaluate the effect of the NK cell dose on transplant outcomes in allogeneic PBSCT setting.Methods And MaterialsSixty-one cytokine mobilized PBSC recipients were analyzed according to the infused dose of CD34+ cells and NK cells in relation to overall survival (OS), non-relapse mortality (NRM), GVHD, and infectious events.ResultsThe group received a higher dose of NK cells (> or =5 x 10(7)/kg) showed a lower incidence of NRM (P = 0.0186) and infectious events (P = 0.0107). In a multivariate analysis, a higher dose of NK cells was correlated to better transplant outcomes for NRM (P = 0.042) with CD34+ cell dose (P = 0.018), and for infectious events (P = 0.013) with CD34+ cell dose (P = 0.016). Higher NK cell infusion group also showed a faster immune recovery in serial measurements at days +90, +180, and +365.ConclusionsHigh dose of NK cells may play an important role in improving transplant outcomes, in terms of reducing NRM and infectious events together with CD34+ cells.

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