Effects of high-dose chemotherapy on bone marrow multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells isolated from lymphoma patients

Objective High-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) followed by autologous stem cell transplantation is a widely applied treatment for hematological and autoimmune diseases. Little is known about the effects of this therapy on multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). We aimed to characterize, morphologically and functionally, MSCs isolated from bone marrow aspirates of patients after HDCT. Materials and Methods We studied 12 consecutive lymphoma patients submitted to BEAM conditioning regimen followed by autologous stem cell transplantation 28 to 1836 days before the sample collection. Thirteen normal donors were used as control. MSCs were isolated by adherence to plastic and expanded ex vivo by culture in flasks containing α−minimum essential medium plus 15% fetal bovine serum. Results The cell population isolated showed a typical MSC morphology, immunophenotype, and differentiation capacity into adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic lineages. The MSCs obtained from patients with Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma showed decreased fibroblastoid colony-forming unit count ( p = 0.023) and increased doubling time ( p  = 0.031) related to the control group. The total cell expansion of MSCs from normal subjects was marginally superior to the patient group ( p = 0.064). There were no differences in gene expression profile, MSCs plasticity, or hematopoiesis support capability between control and patient group. Conclusions Results suggest that HDCT applied to lymphoma patients damaged MSCs, which was demonstrated by their reduced clonogenic potential, doubling time, and cell expansion rates when compared to controls.