title: The effect of G-CSF-stimulated donor marrow on engraftment and incidence of graft-versus-host disease in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.
abstract: Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and infection are major obstacles to successful allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT). In an attempt to improve the results of HLA-identical sibling BMT, we investigated the effect of accelerating hemopoietic reconstitution and reducing acute GVHD (aGVHD) in allo-BMT receiving G-CSF-stimulated donor marrow and the preliminary biological mechanism. The donors of 30 patients (study group) with leukemia were given G-CSF 3-4 microg/kg/d for 7 doses prior to marrow harvest. The results of subsequent engraftment in the recipients were compared with those of 18 patients without G-CSF (control group). Five donors themselves were studied to assess the effects of G-CSF on the hematopoietic progenitor cells and lymphocyte subsets in the bone marrow (BM). We observed that the stimulated BM yielded higher numbers of nucleated cells as well as CFU-GM and CD34+ cells (p<0.01), and that hemopoietic reconstitution was accelerated. The median number of days of granulocyte count exceeding 0.5x10(9)/L and platelet count exceeding 20x10(9)/L was 16 (range 10-23 d) and 18.5 (range 13-31 d), respectively (control group: median 22 d, range 13-29 d and median 23 d, range 17-34 d; p=0.001). The incidence of grade II-IV severe aGVHD was very low, with only 1 case (3.3%) with acute grade II aGVHD limited to the skin in the study group. Five of 18 patients in the control group manifested grade II-IV severe aGVHD (27.8%, p=0.02). The number of T-lymphocyte subsets in the harvested BM using G-CSF stimulation was changed. In the G-CSF-stimulated marrow group, CD4+ decreased and CD8+ increased significantly (p=0.02). The changes of progenitor cells and T-lymphocyte subsets in donors' BM from pre- and post-G-CSF stimulation showed that the percentage of CD4+ reduced (p=0.04) and that of CD8+ increased (p=0.06), while that of CD34+ also increased (p=0.002). The incidence of chronic GVHD and relapse had no significant difference between both groups. These results indicate that allo-BMT in BM G-CSF priming can accelerate engraftment and minimize the incidence of severe aGVHD. There is a trend in favor of improved transplantation-related mortality.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Hematology, The General Hospital of Air Force PLA, Beijing, People's Republic of China. recancel@263.net
authors.forename: S Q
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: C Q
authors.initials: CQ
authors.lastname: Xun
authors.forename: H X
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000187:drug effects*; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016179:Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019650:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007938:Leukemia / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D016179:Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor