Stem Cell Collection using the Dideco Excel Continuous Flow Blood Cell Separator: Parameters for Optimal Stem Cell Collection Timing

Abstract

This study evaluates stem cell collection procedures performed with the Dideco Excel blood cell separator, with particular attention given to yields and separator collection efficiencies. Patients’ blood precounts and yield parameters related to the harvest capacity of the collection system were investigated. Fifty-five collection procedures were analyzed in 32 patients suffering from hematological malignancies and solid tumors and mobilized with chemotherapy plus G-CSF. The median blood volume processed in each procedure was 15.8 liters (12–19.750), with a blood flow rate of 70 ml/min. Patients had the following median blood precount value: NC 7.81×10⁹/L, CD34+ cells 49.08×10³/ml. Leukapheresis procedures gave the following yields: NC 14.95×10⁹, MNC 10.83×10⁹, CD34+ cells 4.37×10⁶; yields/kg, NC 0.21×10⁹kg, MNC 0.15×10⁹/kg CD34+ cells 4.26×10⁶/kg. Procedures show the following collection efficiencies: NC 10.79%, MNC 29.06%, CD34+ 42.33%, PLT 26.5%. The RBC (red blood cell) contamination of the product was (median value) 20.9 ml for each procedure, and for platelets 1.76×10¹¹ per procedure. The CD34+ cell precounts strongly correlated with the CD34+ yields/kg (r=0.82. p=0.000). Furthermore the NC and MNC precounts correlated with the CD34+ yields/kg but only the MNC precount correlation is notable (r=0.57, p=0.000). The logistic regression analysis shows that CD34+ (p=0.008) but not NC (po=0.14), MNC (p=0.09), or PLT (p=0.53) precounts significantly influenced the collection of a sufficient dose of CD34+ cells for transplantation (≥ 2.5×10⁶/kg). Eleven of the thirty-two patients have been transplanted till now, and all had a prompt and lasting trilineage engraftment NC >1×10⁹/L on day 12 (10–17). Our data show that the collection system analyzed in this report is able to collect large amounts of progenitor cells, harvesting ≥2.5×10⁶/kg CD34+ cells with a single procedure in 68.8% of patients and assuring complete recovery after stem cell transplantation.