Reconstitution of Hematopoiesis after High-Dose Chemotherapy by Autologous Progenitor Cells Generated ex Vivo

Hematopoietic progenitor cells in the peripheral blood are used increasingly to restore the formation of blood after high-dose chemotherapy for solid tumors or hematologic cancers. 1 As compared with rescue by autologous bone marrow transplantation, restoration with such cells shortens the period of pancytopenia and reduces the risks of infection and bleeding. 2 – 4 However, the collection of peripheral-blood progenitor cells requires the removal of a large volume of blood by leukapheresis. To minimize the contamination of collections of peripheral-blood progenitor cells by tumor cells, 5 , 6 we have developed a method of growing the progenitor cells ex vivo from a relatively small . . .