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Updated: Aug 25, 2026
Pan-myeloid Differentiation of Human Cord Blood Derived CD34+ Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells
Published on: August 9, 2019
Viable CD34+ stem cell content of a cord blood graft: which measurement performed before transplantation is most
Inge Van haute1, Nele Lootens, Saskia De Smet
1Blood Bank of East-Flanders, Flemish Blood Service, Gent, Belgium. inge.vanhaute@rodekruis.be
Background:
Patient survival in allogeneic cord blood transplantation is critically dependent on total nucleated cell (TNC) count or total CD34+ cell count per kg of body weight. Theoretically, viable CD34+ cell measurement at the time of infusion should give a better indication of the suitability of a certain transplant. The relation between measurements on different samples and viable CD34+ cell count on the graft itself was analyzed.
Study Design And Methods:
Viable CD34+ cells were measured with a no-wash, single-platform technique with 7-aminoactinomycin D. Analysis was performed before freezing on the cord blood, after freezing and thawing on the cord blood unit itself, and on various samples.
Results:
Cord blood volume correlated poorly with viable CD34+ cell content (r=0.24) as did initial TNC count and WBC count (r=0.57 and r=0.48, respectively). In contrast, viable CD34 cell content determined before freezing correlated well with viable CD34 cell content of the graft (r=0.91) but was on average 25 percent higher than after freezing and thawing. The best correlations with the CD34+ cell content of the cord blood unit were obtained with CD34 cell measurements on a separate cryovial (r=0.95). These CD34 cell measurements on frozen samples were found to be very reproducible (r=0.96).
Conclusion:
Viable CD34 cell count of the graft is both accurate and precise when measured on a separate sample frozen together with the cord blood unit. This measurement can be performed by the transplant center to exclude between-laboratory variability.
