Comparison of CXCR-4 and Adhesion Molecule Expression in Healthy Bone Marrow with Expression in Bone Marrow and Peripheral Blood of Patients Receiving G-CSF Plus AMD3100

It is known that the crosstalk between adhesion molecules, bone marrow microenvironment, and cytokines facilitates the multi step process of stem cell mobilization from bone marrow to peripheral blood. A combination of G-CSF plus AMD3100 - a CXCR-4 antagonist - has been shown to be safe and efficient in stem cell mobilization of healthy donors and cancer patients. Nevertheless, data predicting the efficacy of this approach are still missing. The present study investigated the correlation of the expression of CXCR-4 (CD184) and adhesion molecules with the kinetics and efficacy of stem cell mobilization in nine patients with Multiple Myeloma (MM) or NHL, respectively. Steady-state mobilization was performed using a combination of G-CSF (Filgrastim, 10μg/kg/d, 8 am) for 4 days followed by AMD3100 (240μg/kg) on day 4 at 10pm. Autologous aphereses were started on day 5. Bone marrow and peripheral blood (PB) before AMD3100 application (day 4) and PB on day 5 were investigated with a 4-color flow cytometric procedure. Bone marrow aspirates of healthy donors (n=20) served as control. The qualitative (%) and quantitative (mean fluorescence intensity, [MFI]) antigen expression of CXCR-4 in relation to CD34 was assessed as well as the expression of certain adhesion molecules including LFA-1, PECAM-1, VLA-1, L-selectin and CD44. First, the median percentage of CXCR-4 surface expression in healthy bone marrow was significantly higher (92%; range: 52 – 99%) than in patients bone marrow (70%; 30 – 88%; p=0.002), PB before AMD3100 (87%; 35 – 97%; p=0.050) and on day 5 (17%; 2 – 74%; p