Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation - Blog Science Connections

Autologous Blood Stem Cell Transplantation:
A New Treatment Concept for Patients With
Malignant Lymphohematopoietic Disorders
Martin Korbling and Hans Martin
The usual source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation is the bone
marrow. However, evidence in rodents, canines, and nonhuman primates
indicates that stem cells with marrow-repopulating ability also circulate in the
peripheral blood (1-4). Using the circulating blood as the primary source of
stem cells with which to repopulate an aplastic bone marrow is a concept that
reflects the physiological pattern within which fetal hematopoiesis develops.
The fetal bone marrow becomes a site of hematopoiesis after pluripotent
hematopoietic stem cells migrate into its stromal matrix via the circulating
blood. Thus transfusing blood-derived stem cells in adults may be considered
as repeating the prenatal seeding of hematopoiesis into the bone marrow
(5,6).
In humans the repopulating ability of circulating stem cells is less well
established. Goldman et al. (7) were the first who showed that blood-derived
hematopoietic stem cells can reestablish hematopoietic function after
myeloablative treatment for blast crisis in chronic myelogenous leukemia
(CML). However, in these patients most stem cells collected and eventually
transfused originate from a Philadelphia chromosome (Ph 1 )-positive tumor
cell clone. Their repopulating capability does not necessarily mean that
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