title: Feasibility of peripheral blood progenitor cell mobilization and harvest to support chemotherapy intensification in elderly patients with poor prognosis: non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
abstract: Mobilized peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) are widely employed in the management of adult patients with high-risk non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), though their use in the elderly has received little attention. This study was mounted to assess the feasibility of the mobilization, harvesting, and reinfusion of PBPC in NHL patients aged >60. Twenty patients (median age: 67, range: 61-80) with poor-prognosis NHL entered the pilot study: nine others were discarded for various reasons. Thus, the program was applicable to 69% of potential candidates. Fourteen patients were at onset and six were being treated for refractory disease or relapses. Mobilization was induced with cyclophosphamide 4 g/m(2), followed by 5 micro g/kg per day granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) s.c. until PBPC collection or hemopoietic recovery. Sixteen patients (80%) displayed some signs of mobilization (CD34+: >5/ micro l). Maximum mobilization varied with median circulating CD34+ cells and colony forming units-granulocyte/macrophage (CFU-GM) peaks of 17.2/ micro l (range: 8.1-210) and 1,650/ml (range: 540-62,900), respectively. A median of two leukaphereses resulted in the harvesting of a median of 6.7x10(6) (range: 0.3-33.6) CD34+/kg and 21.1x10(4) (range: 1.2-209) CFU-GM/kg. Intensified therapy with intermediate-dose melphalan, associated or not with mitoxantrone, was delivered with autologous PBPC support to 13 patients and always resulted in rapid and stable hemopoietic reconstitution. The program was well tolerated and no treatment-related deaths occurred. Twelve patients are still alive with a 5-year survival projection of 59%. In conclusion, the results demonstrate the feasibility of using autologous PBPC to support therapy intensification even in elderly patients.
authors.affiliation: Dip. Medicina Oncologia Sperimentale, Divisione Universitaria Ematologia, Az. Osp. S. Giovanni Battista, Via Genova 3, 10126 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zallio
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cuttica
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Caracciolo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gavarotti
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bergui
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giaretta
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bondesan
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tassi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pileri
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tarella
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D019650:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization / Q000379:methods*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011379:Prognosis; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents