Myeloid and lymphoid recovery following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation: a comparative study between related, unrelated bone marrow and allogeneic peripheral stem cell transplantation.

We studied myeloid and lymphoid recovery during a period of 12 months following HLA matched allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in 15 patients. Patients were divided into three groups. Each group contained 5 patients according to the source of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HST): 1) related bone marrow transplantation (BMT), 2) allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) and 3) matched unrelated donor transplantation (MUD). The rate and pattern of recovery of granulocytes, lymphocytes (T-cell subsets, B-cells, NK cells, subsets of CD45) were studied by cell counting and flow cytometry. Our results suggest faster recovery of PMN after PBSCT. Higher CD4 cell counts observed in the PBSCT group may have an impact on a lower incidence of opportunistic infections. Chronic GvHD mediated GvL effect seems to be more important in blood stem cell transplanted patients and this may have an influence on disease free survival.