T cell depletion from human bone marrow using magnetic beads.

We have studied a recently described method to purge human marrow of T cells using magnetic beads conjugated to various anti-T cell monoclonal antibodies. Using anti-CD2 and anti-T cell receptor/CD3 monoclonal antibodies, we show that up to 2.76 log T cell purge can be achieved while recovery of hemopoietic activity is 82%. As a control, our clinically established T cell depletion protocol, namely soybean agglutination combined with E-rosetting, provided 3.39 log T cell purge and 59% recovery of hemopoietic activity. The impact of these results on T cell depletion strategies in HLA-nonidentical bone marrow transplantation is discussed.