Female donors and donors who are lighter than their recipient are less likely to meet the CD34+ cell dose requested for peripheral blood stem cell transplantation.

BACKGROUND

It is of clinical relevance to recognize donors who are unlikely to meet the requested stem cell dose for transplantation, as this group may benefit from an alternative mobilization regimen. This study was performed to evaluate the frequency of unrelated donor peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collections that meet the target yield and the impact of donor factors on this.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

All sequential PBSC collections facilitated by the national registry (n = 323) from January through December 2011 were analyzed. Donor factors analyzed included age, sex, weight, and presence of a central line.

RESULTS

In univariate analyses, we found that reaching the target yield was significantly associated with a higher donor weight (85.6 kg vs. 75.3 kg, p < 0.001), male donor sex (55% vs. 19%, p < 0.001), a positive difference in weight between donor and recipient (4.3 kg vs. -8 kg, p < 0.001), and a higher volume of blood processed (13.8 L vs. 11.9 L, p < 0.001). After stepwise binary logistic regression, sex (p < 0.001) and difference between donor and recipient weight (p < 0.005) remained significantly associated with target yield being met after 1 day of collection.

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows than women and donors who are lighter than their recipient have a decreased likelihood of meeting the transplant physician's requested dose. New strategies to improve mobilization in such donors are needed. These findings may also impact future donor recruitment strategies.