Radiobiological features of human pluripotent bone marrow progenitor cells (CFU-GEMM)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the radiobiologic features of human pluripotent bone marrow progenitor cells (CFU-GEMM; colony forming unit-granulocyte-erythroid-macrophage/monocyte-megakaryocyte). Experiments were performed using fresh bone marrow cells as well as bone marrow cells stimulated with recombinant granulocyte-macrophage-colony stimulating factor (rGM-CSF) to increase the CFU-GEMM pool. The D0 values for CFU-GEMM in normal bone marrow samples (n = 9) ranged from 30.9 cGy to 85.7 cGy (mean +/- SE = 54.4 cGy +/- 6.2 cGy) and the D0 value of the composite radiation survival curve was 56.9 cGy, indicating that CFU-GEMM were acutely sensitive to the lethal effects of ionizing radiation. There was no distinct shoulder on the single dose radiation survival curves with Dq values ranging from -29.6 cGy to 4.4 cGy, and no increase in CFU-GEMM survival was observed when the radiation was fractionated. Hence, CFU-GEMM were unable to repair sublethal radiation damage. These findings confirm and extend previous studies on the radiobiologic features of human hematopoietic progenitor cell populations.