Leukopherese

RATIONALE: A major abnormality that characterizes the red cell "storage lesion" is increased hemolysis and reduced red cell lifespan after infusion. Low levels of intravascular hemolysis after transfusion of aged stored red cells disrupt nitric oxide (NO) bioavailabity, via accelerated NO scavenging reaction with cell-free plasma hemoglobin. The degree of intravascular hemolysis post-transfusion and effects on endothelial-dependent vasodilation responses to acetylcholine have not been fully characterized in humans...

To explore the efficacy and safety of high-dose of etoposide with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for mobilization of peripheral blood stem cells, 10 patients with hematologic malignancies including 6 patients with multiple myeloma and 4 with non Hodgkin' s lymphoma received an etoposide dose of 1.6 g/m2. The total dose of undiluted etoposide was given on day 1 as a continuous intravenous infusion via a central vein for 10 hours. G-CSF 5 microg/kg was used on day 3 and given daily subcutaneously until leukopheresis was completed...

PURPOSE: To test the feasibility, safety, immunogenicity, and clinical efficacy of an autologous vaccine of leukocyte-derived heat shock protein 70-peptide complexes (Hsp70PC), in conjunction with imatinib mesylate, in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Patients had cytogenetic or molecular evidence of disease, despite treatment with imatinib mesylate for all except one patient, at the beginning of study. Hsp70PCs were purified from the leukopheresed peripheral blood mononuclear cells and were administered in eight weekly intradermal injections at 50 microg/dose without adjuvant...

BACKGROUND: Early transplant mortality is related to acute GvHD, which this study in older patients (40 to 60 years) decreased by reducing the graft T-cell number while maintaining a high CD34 cell number--by positive CD34 cell selection. Potential increased risk of relapse is addressed by giving donor leucocyte infusion (DLI) post-transplant. METHODS: CD34 cells selected by Isolex devices from leukophereses obtained from Filgrastim-treated matched sibling donors were transplanted and DLI given later if there was no GvHD...

Preclinical studies have demonstrated the rapid and efficient mobilization of hematopoietic peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) in a mouse model using the combination of paclitaxel with recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF). On the basis of these results, a clinical trial was initiated using rhG-CSF with paclitaxel for PBSC mobilization in high-risk breast cancer patients. The mobilized PBSC were evaluated for CD34(+) cell number, mononuclear cell content, and clonogenic potential...

This study reports the data of 32 children with poor-prognosis solid tumors who had 78 PBSC harvests on Fenwall CS-3000plus after mobilization mainly by different treatment protocol chemotherapy regimens followed by G- or GM-CSF (92% of patients) or by G-/GM-CSF alone (8%). Timing of procedure was predicted by studying the blood count. When the white blood cell and platelet count reached a median of 8.1 (0.9-37.3) and 95 (16-338) x 10(9)/L, respectively, the median number of 2.7 (0.005-16.8) x 10(6) CD34+/kg with 1...

BACKGROUND: Treatment of Hodgkin's disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) is still unsatisfactory in patients resistant to primary therapy or those with early relapses. The objective of the trial was to test whether salvage regimens based on a combination of iphosphamide and etopozide have a sufficient anti-lymphoma effect, while the toxicity is still acceptable, and in conjunction with growth factors as satisfactory mobilizing potential for the collection of peripheral stem cells (PBSC)...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: We previously reported that patients with acquired severe aplastic anemia (SAA) treated with antilymphocyte globulin (ALG), 6-methylprednisolone, cyclosporin A (CyA) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) can mobilize peripheral blood hemopoietic progenitors (PBHP). The aim of the present study was to assess phenotypic and functional properties of these PBHP. METHODS: We studied seven patients who underwent 43 leukophereses (median 5) between day +30 and +80 following ALG, while in treatment with CyA and G-CSF...

In recent years peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) have increasingly been used to support hematological recovery after high-dose chemotherapy treatment. PBPC are collected by leukopheresis after mobilization by chemotherapy and/or hematopoietic growth factors. Efficient mobilization and correct timing of leukopheresis is essential to minimize the number of leukophereses required for collection of sufficient PBPC for transplantation. Mobilization efficiency is influenced by various factors and recruitment of cells can be assessed by cell assays and FACS analysis...

We conducted a Phase II trial using an intensive regimen combining interleukin-2 (IL2), interferon-alfa-2b (IFN), and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxicity and the efficacy of this combination in selected patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Thirty-one assessable patients were treated with at least one cycle of a regimen consisting of 20 x 10(6) IU/day s.c. IFN for 5 days, followed 2 days later by i.v. injections of 24 x 10(6) IU/m2/day IL2 every 8 h together with i...

Ten patients were treated with repeated leukophereses performed one to three times per week for 2-5 weeks. Two of the patients was cleared completely, four exhibited regression of more than one-half of the lesions, and four showed only a slight improvement. The therapy did not markedly affect the granulocyte count in peripheral blood, and the beneficial clinical response was not related to the number of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) removed by leukophereses. During therapy, the activities of elastase, cathepsin G, lysozyme, and myeloperoxidase in PMNs were determined by spectrophotometry...

The systemic administration of lymphokine activated killer (LAK) cells and recombinant interleukin-2 (RIL-2) is effective in reducing the number of established pulmonary and hepatic metastases from multiple murine tumors and has recently been shown to be effective in mediating the regression of metastatic cancer in humans as well. The generation of sufficient numbers of LAK cells for the effective therapy of human tumors remains a major obstacle to the widespread application of this immunotherapeutic approach...

In order to provide leukemic patients during the critical granulocytopenic stage with a sufficient amount of granulocytes a blood cell separator with a continuous extracorporeal circulation was developed. This permits to obtain up to 3.0-10(10) leukocytes during a 4---5 hours period from a single donor. According to our own experiences with 20 leukophereses performed in 13 healthy donors by the use of the AMINCO cell separator an average of 1.17-10(10) leukocytes with a granulocytic portion of 61% was collected per run...