Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation - Blog Science Connections

Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation
and Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia
P. Chervenick and H. Kantarjian, Chairmen
DR. A. ZANDER: What is the rationale of your conditioning regimen?
DR. F. BABAPCILLE: I think, as you know, most chemotherapeutic regimens
are not based on very good reason. We use large doses of busulfan and we
decided that we should also incorporate another alkylating agent—some
people use cyclophosphamide, we chose to use melphalan.
DR. ZANDER: YOU observed 4 out of 13 patients with delayed platelet
engraftment. How does this compare with your previous study in blast crisis
using buffy coat cells? Have you had similar problems with platelet recovery?
DR. BABAPCILLE: We have had similar problems with platelet engraftment.
And, it may actually be that our human pluripotent stem cell numbers in the
cryopreserved peripheral blood buffy coat cells are not adequate.
DR. W. PETERS: When were the marrows harvested?
DR. BABAPCILLE: They were not marrows, they were peripheral blood,
cryopreserved buffy coat cells.
DR. PETERS: Would you comment on the degree of mucositis that you saw
using busulfan and melphalan in combination?
DR. BABAPCILLE: I think that the degree of mucositis was compounded by
the fact that we used melphalan, which is very mucotoxic.
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