Pharmacological mobilization of haemopoietic progenitor cells in human peripheral blood

We investigated Prednisone (PRD) and Folinic Acid (FA) ability to recruit stem cells (CFU-S) into the circulating compartment, evaluating CFU-GM, BFU-E and CFU-GEMM count increases in peripheral blood (PB). Fifteen healthy donors were administered 75 mg PRD in one trial, and 15 mg FA p.o. through 5 consecutive days in another trial. We observed a significant expansion for BFU-E and CFU-GEMM compartments, though not parallelled by CFU-GM expansion. FA determined a significant increase in CFU-GM on the 5th day of administration, as well as in BFU-E on day 7. It fails to raise CFU-GEMM. The authors suggest a less empiric persuing for such attempts to optimize the use of non-chemotherapic drugs to recruit hemopoietic precursors into PB, so that these can suit to meet stem cell needs for autologous and allogeneic transplantations.