A tale of two peripheral blood CD34+ cell counts: Evaluation of unexpectedly high values prior to peripheral stem cell collection

Abstract

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) form the foundation of treatment for many hematologic and neoplastic diseases. The ability to collect HSCs that have been released into peripheral blood (PB) rather than harvesting from bone marrow (BM) directly has dramatically improved the likelihood of successful collection while minimizing donor discomfort [1]. To facilitate the release of HSCs into PB, cytokines that stimulate cell proliferation and agents that directly antagonize stromal adherence factors are administered for several days pre-collection.