Peripheral blood and BM CD34+ CD38- cells show better resistance to cryopreservation than CD34+ CD38+ cells in autologous stem cell transplantation.
BACKGROUND
We and others have shown a critical role for CD34+ CD38- cells in hematopoietic recovery after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), in particular for platelet reconstitution. Thus a routine assessment of CD34+ CD38- cells in freezing-thawing procedures for autografting could represent an important tool for predicting poor engraftment.


METHODS
To compare the impact of cryopreservation on CD34+ CD38+ and CD34+ CD38- hematopoietic stem cell subsets, 193 autograft products collected in 84 patients with malignancies were assessed before controlled-rate cryopreservation in 10% DMSO and after thawing for autografting.


RESULTS
Cell counts after thawing were significantly different from the pre-freezing counts for total CD34+ (P<0.0001) and CD34+ CD38+ (P<0.0001) cells, but not for CD34+ CD38- cells (P=0.252). Median losses for CD34+, CD34+ CD38+ and CD34+ CD38- cells were, respectively, 11.8%, 11.4% and 0.0%. The magnitude of fresh/post-thawing percentage cell variation was significantly different when comparing between the CD34+ CD38+ and CD34+ CD38- cell subsets (P<0.001). Moreover, CD34+ CD38- cells exhibited recovery values > or =100% in 85/160 graft products, compared with 51/193 in CD34+ CD38+ cells (P<0.0001). Also, recovery values > or =90% were significantly better in the CD34+ CD38- (98/160 grafts) than in the CD34+ CD38+ subsets (89/193 grafts) (P<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
In this work we have demonstrated that CD34+ cells that do not express the CD38 Ag show a significantly better resistance to cryopreservation. This could represent another example of the particular ability of less committed progenitor cells to overcome environmental injuries. Moreover, we consider routine assessment of CD34+ CD38- cells before freezing as clinically relevant, but post-thawing controls may be avoided because of their good resistance to freezing.
Ojeda-Uribe
M
M
Département d'Hématologie Centre Hospitalier de Mulhouse Mulhouse France.
Sovalat
H
H
Bourderont
D
D
Brunot
A
A
Marr
A
A
Lewandowski
H
H
Chabouté
V
V
Peter
P
P
Henon
Ph
P
D036541:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase / Q000276:immunology*; D051997:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase 1; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000276:immunology*; D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000276:immunology*; D002469:Cell Separation; D002470:Cell Survival; D015925:Cryopreservation; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D008875:Middle Aged; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous
D015703:Antigens, CD; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D036541:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase; C498154:CD38 protein, human; D051997:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase 1