Pooled granulocyte component-a worthy rival to the apheresis product?

Granulocyte concentrates (GCs) are crucial in preventing and treating hazardous infections in neutropenic patients with hematological malignancies. Our study goal was to evaluate the impact of various collection and preparation methods on the quality of GCs.

Our study included 30 GCs that were collected either by leukapheresis (group L), by standard buffy coat pooling (group S), or by using the Reveos system (group R). All studied GCs were irradiated with gamma rays and stored for 24 h at room temperature without agitation. Laboratory tests included the assessment of leukocyte (WBC), neutrophil, lymphocyte and monocyte counts, pH, cell viability, phagocytosis, and the expression of CD11b, CD62L, CD66b and CXCR4 molecules.

We showed that GCs prepared using different methods differed primarily in terms of cell counts, cell viability, and the CD11b, CD62L and CXCR4 expression. We also observed that gamma irradiation expectedly reduced the lymphocyte count, whereas 24-h storage drastically reduced cell viability. An additional effect of the preparation method on GCs susceptibility to quality changes due to gamma rays and 24-h storage was noticed as well.

Our research indicates that apheresis-derived granulocytes and pooled GCs do not differ enough to not consider more frequent use of the latter in daily clinical practice. Moreover, we concluded that gamma irradiation does not worsen the quality of granulocyte components, and freshly collected GCs should be preferred.