Analysis of flow cytometric enumeration of CD34+ cells in leukapheresis product from South Indian cancer centre

Background: The success of peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplant often relies on CD34+ cells counting. As the assay needs to be repeated in duplicate, this study was conducted to observe the variations between the duplicates with respect to concentration of leukapheresis product. Methods: The assay followed was single platform method - ISHAGE protocol published by the International Society of Haematotherapy and Graft Engineering. New parameter named variation index was used to compare the difference between the duplicates. Results: We present our data on 111 samples collected from leukapheresis product. 10% of the assay did not meet the criteria and required repeat testing. We observed no significant difference betweenthe duplicate samples with respect to low (CD34+ cells/μl < 500; P=0.632), Medium: 500 to 1000 CD34+ cells/μl, P=0.085 and High > 1000 CD34+ cells/μl, P=0.864). Conclusion: Testing the CD34 enumeration in duplicate and verifying its repeatability for variation index of less than 10 will help in accurately determining CD34+ dose calculations.