Although the ELISA test did not appear to play a role in the early diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis and in the anticipation of antifungal therapy in our experience, it clarifies the diagnosis of infection in probable or possible invasive aspergillosis especially when the cutoff value is lowered and is useful for monitoring patients receiving specific therapy.

Summary:To evaluate the impact of ex vivo expanded megakaryocyte (MK) progenitors on high-dose chemotherapyinduced thrombocytopenia, we conducted a phase II study in 10 patients with relapsed lymphoma. Two fractions of peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) were cryopreserved, one with enough cells for at least 2 Â 10 6 CD34 þ cells/kg and a second obtained after CD34 þ selection. Ten days before autologous stem cell transplantation, the CD34 þ fraction was cultured with MGDF þ SCF for 10 days. After BEAM (BCNU, cyclophosphamide, cytarabine, and melphalan) chemotherapy, patients were reinfused with standard PBPC and ex vivo expanded cells. No toxicity was observed after reinfusion. The mean fold expansion was 9.27 for nucleated cells, 2 for CD34 þ cells, 676 for CD41 þ cells, and 627 for CD61 þ cells. The median date of platelet transfusion independence was day 8 (range: 7-12). All patients received at least one platelet transfusion. In conclusion, ex vivo expansion of MK progenitors was feasible and safe, but this procedure did not prevent BEAM-induced thrombocytopenia. Future studies will determine if expansion of higher numbers of CD34 þ cells towards the MK-differentiation pathway will translate into a functional effect in terms of shortening of BEAM-induced thrombocytopenia.