Birthweight of full-term infants is associated with cord blood CD34+ cell concentration.
OBJECTIVE
CD34+ cell counts are used to define the haematopoietic stem cell potential of a given cord blood transplant. The aim was to test the hypothesis that high concentration of cord blood haematopoietic progenitor and stem cells could be a reflection of intrauterine growth, of which birthweight is an indicator.


METHODS
Simple and multiple regression analyses were applied to test cord blood bank data on 1368 infants for associations of selected obstetric factors and cellular contents of cord blood.


RESULTS
When groups were formed based on the extreme values (5th versus 95th percentiles) of a given variable, e.g. birthweight, the term infants having the highest birthweights were found to have statistically significantly higher median cord blood CD34+ cell concentrations. Also, infants in the top 50th percentile of relative birthweight had higher median CD34+ cell concentration than infants in the low 50th percentile. In multiple regression analysis, the correlation between birthweight and CD34+ cell concentration was statistically clearly significant. Notably, while an expected correlation between gestational age and nucleated cell concentration was found, there was no association between infant gestational age and CD34+ cell concentration.


CONCLUSIONS
Haematopoietic progenitor and stem cells may reflect intrauterine growth and have a more central role in foetal development than has been reported earlier.
Aroviita
P
P
Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. pekka.aroviita@bts.redcross.fi
Teramo
K
K
Hiilesmaa
V
V
Westman
P
P
Kekomäki
R
R
D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000032:analysis*; D001724:Birth Weight; D002452:Cell Count; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D012044:Regression Analysis
D018952:Antigens, CD34