• Juan-Carlos Hernández-Boluda, Enric Carreras, Francisco Cervantes, Pedro Marín, Eduardo Arellano-Rodrigo, Montserrat Rovira, Francesc Solé, Elisabet Lloveras, Blanca Espinet, Agustín Ocejo, and Emili Montserrat.
• BMT Unit, Institute of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Hematology, Hospital del Mar, Villaroel 170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain.
• Haematologica. 2002 Jan 1; 87 (1): 17-22.

Background And ObjectivesAutologous stem cell transplantation is a therapeutic option for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients who are not candidates for allogeneic transplant. To reduce the risk of post-autografting disease recurrence, different strategies of stem cell selection have been attempted. The results of using recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rHuG-CSF) for harvesting hematopoietic progenitors in CML patients treated with interferon-a (IFN) are reported.Design And MethodsTwenty-one CML patients who received IFN for a median of 21 (8-68) months were mobilized with rHuG-CSF (10 mg/kg/day). Twelve were in complete (CCR) or major (MCR) cytogenetic response. Complete success was considered a sufficient harvest (> 1 x 10(6)/kg CD34(+) cells/kg) without Philadelphia (Ph)+ metaphases in at least one apheresis; a partial success was a sufficient harvest with 1-35% Ph(+) cells.ResultsA total of 78 aphereses were performed. No patient had major side-effects. The median number (range) of mononuclear and CD34(+) cells obtained was, respectively, 8.6 x 10(8)/kg (0.9-22.6) and 3.3 x 10(6)/kg (0.4-26.3) per patient. A sufficient cell yield was collected in all but three patients. A complete/partial success was achieved in seven CCR/MCR patients (63%) and in three (33%) with other responses. Four patients underwent successful autografting using the stem cells obtained after rHuG-CSF mobilization.Interpretation And ConclusionsMobilization of IFN-treated patients using rHuG-CSF is safe and provides a significant proportion of Ph-negative progenitors in CML patients in complete or major cytogenetic response.

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