Donor body mass index is an important factor that affects peripheral blood progenitor cell yield in healthy donors after mobilization with granulocyte–colony-stimulating factor

Background The use of hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) transplantation has rapidly expanded in recent years. Currently, several sources of HPCs are available for transplantation including peripheral blood HPCs (PBPCs), cord blood cells, and marrow cells. Of these, PBPC collection has become the major source of HPCs. An important variable in PBPC collection is the response to PBPC mobilization, which varies significantly and sometime causes mobilization failure. Study Design and Methods A retrospective study of 69 healthy donors who underwent PBPC donation by leukapheresis was performed. All of these donors received 10 μg/kg/day or more granulocyte–colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for 5 days before PBPC harvest. Donor factors were evaluated and correlated with mobilization responses, as indicated by the precollection CD34 count (pre-CD34). Results Donors with a pre-CD34 of more than 100 × 106/L had higher body mass index (BMI) compared with donors whose pre-CD34 was 38 × 106 to 99 × 106/L or less than 38 × 106/L (32.0 ± 1.04 kg/m2 vs. 28.7 ± 0.93 kg/m2 vs. 25.9 ± 1.27 kg/m2, respectively; p < 0.05). In addition, donors with high BMIs had higher pre-CD34 on a per-kilogram-of-body-weight basis compared with donors with low BMIs. Conclusion BMI is an important factor that affects donor's response to mobilization and consequently the HPC yield. This effect may be due to a relatively high dose of G-CSF administered to donors with higher BMI or due to the presence of unknown intrinsic factors affecting mobilization that correlate with the amount of adipose tissue in each donor.