Higher incidence of relapse in patients with acute myelocytic leukemia infused with higher doses of CD34+ cells from leukapheresis products autografted during the first remission

The stem cell source for autologous transplantation has shifted from bone marrow to peripheral blood (PB). We previously showed that relapse incidence in patients with acute myelocytic leukemia autografted in first remission (CR1) was greater with PB than bone marrow, and a poorer outcome was associated with a shorter CR1 to PB transplantation interval (≤ 80 days). Leukemic and normal progenitors are CD34+ and can be concomitantly mobilized; we assessed whether an association exists between the infused CD34+ cell dose and outcome. The infused CD34+ cell doses were available for 772 patients autografted more than 80 days after CR1 and were categorized by percentiles. We selected the highest quintile (> 7.16 × 106/kg) as the cutoff point. By multivariate analysis, relapse was more probable in patients who received the highest dose (hazard ratio = 1.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-1.95; P = .005), and leukemia-free survival was worse (hazard ratio = 0.72; 95% confidence interval, 0.55-0.93; P = .01). In conclusion, in patients autografted in first remission, relapse was higher and leukemia-free survival lower for those who received the highest CD34+ PB doses.