Graft failure occurs in approximately 20% of patients after unrelated umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT). This could be because of inadequate potency of the cord blood unit (CBU). To this end, we investigated the impact of graft characteristics on engraftment and survival of 435 primarily pediatric (median age: 5.3 years) patients receiving a single-unit unrelated UCBT after myeloablative conditioning from 2000 to 2008. Pre-cryopreservation (pre-cryo) graft characteristics were provided by the banks. Post-thaw parameters were measured on dextran/albumin-washed grafts. Post-thaw recovery of the colony-forming unit (CFU), a biological assay reflecting functional viability of the cord blood cells was the lowest percent age (median 21.2%, mean 36.5%) of the pre-cryo value, regardless of the bank of origin. The cumulative incidences of neutrophil and platelet engraftment were 76.9% (95%, confidence interval [CI], 71.3%-82.5%) and 55% (95% CI, 49.3%-60.7%), respectively. Univariate and separate multivariate models using pre-cryo and post-thaw datasets including clinical parameters identified predictors of engraftment and survival. In multivariate modeling, higher CFU dosing was the only pre-cryo graft characteristic predictive of neutrophil (P = .0024) and platelet engraftment (P = .0063). In the post-thaw model, CFU dose best predicted neutrophil and platelet engraftment (both P < .0001). Comparatively, CD34(+) and total nucleated cell (TNC) were only weakly predictive in post-thaw neutrophil and platelet engraftment models, respectively. In conclusion, CFU dose is a strong independent predictor of engraftment after unrelated UCBT and should be used to assess potency when selecting CBUs for transplantation.

The mechanisms of ferritin uptake and digestion differ in bloodstream and culture forms of Trypanosoma brucei. Ferritin enters bloodstream forms from the flagellar pocket by pinocytosis in large spiny-coated vesicles. These vesicles become continuous with straight tubular extensions of a complex, mostly tubular, collecting membrane membrane system where ferritin is concentrated. From the collecting membrane system the tracer enters large digestive vacuoles. Small spiny-coated vesicles, which never contain ferritin, are found in the Golgi region, fusing with the collecting membrane system, and around the flagellar pocket. Acid phosphatase activity is present in some small spiny-coated vesicles which may represent primary lysosomes. This enzymic activity is also found in the flagellar pocket, pinocytotic vesicles, the collecting membrane system, the Golgi (mature face), and digestive vacuoles of bloodstream forms. About 50 percent of the acid phosphatase activity of blood forms is latent. The remaining nonlatent activity is firmly cell-associated and probably represents activity in the flagellar pocket. The structures involved in ferritin uptake and digestion are larger and more active in the short stumpy than in the long slender bloodstream forms. The short stumpy forms also have more autophagic vacuoles. No pinocytotic large, spiny-coated vesicles or Golgi-derived, small spiny-coated vesicles are seen in culture forms. Ferritin leaves the flagellar pocket of these forms and enters small smooth cisternae located just beneath bulges in the pocket membrane. The tracer then passes through a cisternal collecting membrane network, where it is concentrated, and then into multivesicular bodies. In the culture forms, acid phosphatase activity is localized in the cisternal system, multivesicular bodies, the Golgi (mature face), and small vesicles in the Golgi and cisternal regions. The flagellar pocket has no acid phosphatase activity, and almost all the acitvity is latent in these forms. The culture forms do not release acid phosphatase into culture medium during 4 days growth. Uptake of ferritin by all forms is almost completely inhibited by low temperature. These differences among the long slender and short stumpy bloodstream forms and culture forms are undoubtedly adaptive and reflect different needs of the parasite in different life cycle stages.

Background Banked unrelated donor umbilical cord blood (CB) has improved access to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for patients without a suitably matched donor. In a resource-limited environment, ensuring that the public inventory is enriched with high-quality cord blood units (CBUs) addressing the needs of a diverse group of patients is a priority. Identification of donor characteristics correlating with higher CBU quality could guide operational strategies to increase the yield of banked high-quality CBUs. Methods Characteristics of 5267 CBUs donated to the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, a public bank participating in the National Cord Blood Inventory, were retrospectively analyzed. Eligible CBUs, collected by trained personnel, were processed using standard procedures. Routine quality and potency metrics [post-processing total nucleated cell count (post-TNCC), CD34+, colony-forming units (CFUs)] were correlated with maternal, infant, and collection characteristics. Results High-quality CBUs were defined as those with higher post-TNCC (>1.25×109), and CD34+ + CFU in the upper quartile. Factors associated with higher CD34+ or CFU content included a shorter interval from collection to processing (<10 hours), younger gestational age (34–37 weeks; CD34++CFU) Caucasian race, higher birth weight (>3500grams) and larger collection volumes (>80ml). Conclusions We describe characteristics identifying high-quality CBUs, which can be used to inform strategies for CBU collection for public banks. Efforts should be made to prioritize collections from larger babies born before 38 weeks of gestation. CBUs should be rapidly transported to the processing laboratory. The lower quality of CBUs from non-Caucasian donors highlights the challenges of building a racially diverse public CB inventory.

Flow cytometry has been used to detect cells that express high levels of the aldehyde dehydrogenase activity in normal tissues. Such ALDH bright (ALDHbr) cell populations have been sorted from human cord blood, bone marrow, mobilized peripheral blood, skeletal muscle, and breast tissue and from the rodent brain, pancreas, and prostate.

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Rat alpha 1-macroglobulin (alpha 1M), rat alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) migrated as single bands on non-denaturing gels when purified by the methods described. All three proteins demonstrated increased mobility after reaction with trypsin. A single saturable pathway rapidly cleared complexes of trypsin and the alpha-macroglobulins of mouse, rat and human from the circulation of mice. None of the native alpha-macroglobulins competed for clearance with the trypsin complexes. [14C]Methylamine incorporation was 4.1, 3.9, 2.6 and 3.2 mol/mol of proteinase inhibitor for human alpha 2M, rat alpha 1M, rat alpha 2M and mouse alpha 2M, respectively. Only rat alpha 2M, the acute-phase alpha-macroglobulin studied, showed no evidence of conformational change when subjected to electrophoresis after reaction with methylamine. The clearance of rat alpha 2M-methylamine was comparable with that of the native molecule. The other alpha-macroglobulin-methylamine complexes cleared faster than the inhibitors that had not reacted. Rat alpha 2M and rat alpha 2M-methylamine bound equivalent quantities of 1251-labelled trypsin (1.01 and 0.96 mol/mol respectively). The soya-bean trypsin inhibitor-resistant esterolytic activity of trypsin bound to rat alpha 2M-methylamine was approx. 90% suppressed compared with proteinase bound to native rat alpha 2M. This suppression was not due to a change in the affinity of soya-bean trypsin inhibitor for the complex. Reaction of rat alpha 2M-methylamine with trypsin resulted in a 'slow' to 'fast' electrophoretic conversion of the proteinase inhibitor, and exposure of the signal on the alpha 2M that causes the complex to clear from the murine circulation.