Malignant cell susceptibility to preservation : possible purging effect in transplantation

Abstract

Cell viability and progenitor cell recoveries of hemopoietic cells have been measured following storage at 4C in a refrigerator. The mean end viability of normal bone marrow cells was 69.7 percent with a progenitor cell recovery of 61.0 percent on the 14th day of storage. Whereas marrow cells of multiple myeloma patients (who underwent autologous BMT) had a viability of 67.4 percent with a stem cell recovery of 60.2 percent on day 9 and for many leukemic state bone marrow samples the end viability was 60.5 percent on day 5 with a progenitor cell recovery of 59.5 percent Preferential cytolysis of the contaminating malignant cells in both multiple myeloma and leukemic state bone marrows could be the possible explanation for these differences.