To prevent potential overtreatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, the individual parameters of circulating hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) (percentage of CD133 + HSCs, CD34 + HSCs, and mitotic activity in the circulating lymphocyte fraction) were measured before conventional cytotoxic therapy in 35 patients by flow cytometry and then compared retrospectively with their individual survival periods. The plot of dependence of the CD133 + HSC × mitotic activity product versus CD34 + HSC revealed the prognostic properties during the survival period (range 0.3-124 months). Discrimination of patients with an expected survival shorter than 12 months was possible based on the positions of individual points on the plot, with a sensitivity and specificity of ~100 each and a diagnostic odds ratio of 1250. The evaluation of individual lymphoproliferative resources before cytotoxic treatment may be useful for the optimal therapeutic compromise between the desired inhibition of malignant target cells and the life-threatening depression of lymphocytopoiesis.

No abstract