title: The effect of short-course high-dose methylprednisolone on peripheral blood CD34+ progenitor cells of children with acute leukemia during remission induction therapy.
abstract: This study was undertaken to determine the effect of short-course high-dose methylprednisolone (HDMP) treatment on peripheral blood (PB) CD34+ progenitor cells during remission induction treatment in 11 children with newly diagnosed acute leukemia (7 with ALL, 4 with AML) whose bone marrow (BM) cells expressed fewer than 5% CD34 at the time of diagnosis. All children who had no infection were given HDMP as a single daily oral dose of 30 mg/kg for the first four days of induction therapy. The number of CD34+ progenitor cells were determined by flow cytometry before and after four days of HDMP treatment. While the number of PB blast cells significantly decreased after only a four-day course of HDMP treatment, the number of PB CD34+ progenitor cells increased in all patients. In addition, after four days of HDMP treatment polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) and mononuclear cells (MNC) increased significantly (p < 0.05). We suggest that the potential beneficial effects of HDMP in the induction treatment of acute leukemia may occur partly by the stimulation of PB CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells in a short period of time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Süleyman Demirel University Faculty of Medicine, Isparta, Turkey.
authors.forename: Bahattin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tunç
authors.forename: Ahmet F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Oner
authors.forename: Gönül
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hiçsönmez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012074:Remission Induction
chemical_list: D018952:Antigens, CD34; D005938:Glucocorticoids; D008775:Methylprednisolone