Predictive parameters for granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor‐induced peripheral blood stem cell mobilization

To improve the selection of donors for allogeneic stem cell transplantation, it is important to identify reliable parameters that predict CD34+‐cell yields after granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor (G‐CSF)‐induced peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) mobilization. We retrospectively investigated the peripheral blood (PB) kinetics of white blood cells (WBCs), CD34+ cells, matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)‐9 and ‐2, and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP)‐1 and ‐2 in 15 healthy donors during their treatment with G‐CSF. All donors received 10 μg/kg of recombinant human G‐CSF once a day subcutaneously. Leukapheresis was initiated after 4 days of G‐CSF treatment, and G‐CSF treatment continued until the last day of leukapheresis. WBC and CD34+ cell numbers in the PB rose after 2 and 3 or 4 days of G‐CSF treatment, respectively. The PB CD34+ cell numbers on day 4 correlated weakly with the increase in WBC counts from day 1 to day 2 ( R 2 = 0.254, P = 0.056). There were also positive correlations between the CD34+ cell numbers in the PBSC products on day 4 and the CD34+ cells in the PB on days 1 and 4 ( R 2 = 0.768, P < 0.0001 and R 2 = 0.816, P < 0.0005, respectively). The MMP‐9 plasma levels on days 1 and 4 also correlated positively with the day 4 circulating CD34+ cell numbers ( R 2 = 0.393, P < 0.05 and R 2 = 0.406, P = 0.01, respectively). In conclusion, the CD34+ cell numbers in the PB steady state may be a useful parameter selecting allogeneic PBSC donors. J. Clin. Apheresis, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.