Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Tumor Cell Contamination and Survival of Neuroblastoma Patients

Abstract

Purpose: Contribution of peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) contaminating tumor cells to subsequent relapse and overall survival of neuroblastoma patients remains controversial. Experimental Design: Neuroblastoma cell contamination of 27 PBSC harvests from stage IV neuroblastoma patients was assessed by quantitative RT-PCR for both tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and GD2 synthase (GD2-s). The effect of PBSC contamination on survival was then analyzed. Results: Seven PBSC tested negative for both markers; 19 were positive for GD2-s, 6 for TH, with 5 positive for both. Survival of the 20 patients with positive PBSC did not differ from that of the patients with negative PBSC (log-rank test, P = 0.134 and 0.218 for event-free survival and overall survival, respectively). By considering the TH and GD2-s results independently, a borderline (P = 0.053) negative effect on event-free survival was observed in patients reinfused with GD2-s-positive PBSC. When the status at transplant was taken into account, only the event-free survival of the patients rescued when in complete remission with GD2-s-negative PBSC was better, although not significantly, than that of patients infused with GD2-s-positive PBSC. Conclusions: Our results obtained in a small cohort of homogeneously treated stage IV patients suggest that patient survival is not affected by PBSC contamination with the exception of a borderline negative effect on event-free survival in patients rescued when in complete remission.

Consensus criteria for sensitive detection of minimal neuroblastoma cells in bone marrow, blood and stem cell preparations by immunocytology and QRT-PCR: recommendations by the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group Task Force

“…Clinically significant disease has been detected in PB (Burchill et al, 1995(Burchill et al, , 2001aKuroda et al, 1997;Shono et al, 2000;Cheung et al, 2004) and BM (Miyajima et al, 1996;Kuroda et al, 1997;Shono et al, 2000;Fukuda et al, 2001;Horibe et al, 2001) samples from children with NB at diagnosis, on therapy, during follow-up and at relapse by RT -PCR for TH. Furthermore, this technique has been used to detect NB cells in PBSC from children with high-risk disease (Miyajima et al, 1996;Burchill et al, 2001b;Corrias et al, 2006). The success of TH as a target is in part attributed to the stability of the mRNA in haemopoietic compartments and its ubiquitous expression in NB cells; even those rare NB cells that do not secrete catecholamines express TH mRNA.…”

Results of mobilization, apheresis and autoreinfusion of hematopoietic stem cells in children with neuroblastoma: role of monitoring the count of CD34+ cells in peripheral blood

“…В нашем Центре для всех 116 пациентов с нейро-бластомой высокого риска удалось собрать более 2,5×10 6 /кг CD34+ клеток за один аферез, для 109 (94%) -более 5×10 6 /кг. Выявление определяемых количеств минимальной остаточной болезни (МОБ), несомненно, оказывает влияние на выживаемость пациентов с нейробласто-мой высокого риска [31][32][33][34][35]. Помимо применения биологических агентов с целью воздействия на МОБ, долгое время во многих центрах применялись раз-личные технологии иммуномагнитной очистки про-дуктов афереза от опухолевых клеток, призванные улучшить результаты после проведения АутоТГСК [32,36].…”

High-dose chemotherapy combined with autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation in children with advanced malignant solid tumors: A retrospective analysis of 38 cases

“…The prognosis of the children in this study was categorized according to integrated efficacy standards (18) as follows: i) CR, the tumor disappeared completely following the treatment and no evidence of tumor residue was observed in the imaging examination; ii) PR, the tumor shrank by >50% and no new lesions were observed; iii) PD, the tumor volume increased by >25% and new tumor lesions appeared during the treatment; and iv) mortality.…”