The effect of short-course high-dose methylprednisolone on peripheral blood CD34(+) progenitor cells of children with acute leukemia during remission induction therapy

Tunc B., Oner A., Hicsonmez G.

TURKISH JOURNAL OF PEDIATRICS, vol.44, no.1, pp.1-4, 2002 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 44 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 2002
  • Journal Name: TURKISH JOURNAL OF PEDIATRICS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.1-4
  • Süleyman Demirel University Affiliated: No

Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine the effect of short-course high-dose methylprednisolone (HDMP) treatment on peripheral blood (PB) CD34(+) progenitor cells during remission induction treatment in 11 children with newly diagnosed acute leukemia (7 with ALL, 4 with AML) whose bone marrow (BM) cells expressed fewer than 5% CD34 at the time of diagnosis. All children who had no infection were given HDMP as a single daily oral dose of 30 mg/kg for the first four days of induction therapy. The number of CD34(+) progenitor cells were determined by flow cytometry before and after four days of HDMP treatment. While the number of PB blast cells significantly decreased after only a four-day course of HDMP treatment, the number of PB CD34(+) progenitor cells increased in all patients. In addition, after four days of HDMP treatment polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) and mononuclear cells (MNC) increased significantly (p < 0.05). We suggest that the potential beneficial effects of HDMP in the induction treatment of acute leukemia may occur partly by the stimulation of PB CD34(+) hematopoietic progenitor cells in a short period of time.