Association of cord blood platelet characteristics and hematopoietic progenitor cells.
BACKGROUND
Total nucleated cell (TNC) dose is associated with neutrophil and platelet (PLT) engraftment after cord blood (CB) transplantation and thus is used for selection of CB for banking. The goal of this study was to evaluate the internal relationships of CB PLT characteristics, TNC, and the hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) content of CB units.


METHODS
HPC and TNC counts of 167 CB units processed with an automated cell separation system were compared with CB PLT count and mean PLT volume (MPV). Megakaryocyte progenitors (CFU-MK) were cultured from a subset of units (n = 24).


RESULTS
PLT concentration correlated with MPV (r = -0.39), which was also associated with both TNC and total CD34+ cells before and after processing (r = 0.37 and 0.35 and r = 0.41 and 0.42, respectively). In addition, MPV was associated with HPC counts in the CB unit. The p value was less than 0.001 for all associations. PLT count was inversely associated with markers of hematopoietic potential. Median removal of PLTs during processing was 62 percent (range, 40%-84%). All 24 CB units of the subset exhibited CFU-MK growth. In multivariate linear regression analysis, MPV improved prediction of the HPC content of the CB unit compared to prediction with CB volume and nucleated cell concentration only.


CONCLUSIONS
Mean PLT volume correlated with current markers of CB hematopoietic potential and is potentially useful for evaluating CB collections for banking. The question of the clinical significance of PLT characteristics in CB transplantation remains unanswered.
Eskola
Mikko
M
Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki, Finland.
Rekunen
Sari
S
Aroviita
Pekka
P
Möttönen
Sari
S
Hiilesmaa
Vilho
V
Sainio
Susanna
S
Kekomäki
Riitta
R
D015415:Biomarkers; D000094902:Blood Banking / Q000379:methods; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000166:cytology*; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D008533:Megakaryocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D010976:Platelet Count; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests
D015415:Biomarkers