Correlation of Age and Bone Marrow Derived CD 34+ Cells and Leucocytes in 873 Patients.

Abstract

Background:The use of regenerative medicine, such as autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), matrix associated stem cell therapy (MAST) and bone marrow derived stem cell therapy against arthritis is the gold standard for certain indications. However, the clinical improvement of patients using these novel therapies remains heterogeneous and the reasons for this are not fully understood. The impact of age is always a concern for patients and doctors and elderly patients can only be mobilized with lower total collected CD34+ cells, older age correlates with inferior results, fatty degeneration of the bone marrow, delayed fracture-healing and osteoporosis, but solid data are missing. Purpose:This is the first study to determine the average quantity of leukocytes and CD 34+ cells and their relationship in human bone marrow. Study design: Descriptive Laboratory Study Methods:We evaluated the laboratory results of 873 patients (aged 1-90 years), who underwent stem cell transplantation for non malignant diseases. Results:We found no age-related decrease regarding the number and the vitality of leukocytes and CD 34+ stem cells. The number of bone marrow derived leucocytes and CD 34+ cells showed a strong and significant correlation.Conclusion:The amount of bone marrow derived stem cells can be predicted by leukocytes. This study makes further research possible in order to link clinical outcome to the absolute number of stem cells and leukocytes.An upper age-limit for stem cell therapy can therefore not be defined from the donor-site perspective.Clinical Relevance:The number of leucocytes might be used to predict the amount of stem cells in order to select the ideal patient.