Broad inter‐individual variations in circulating progenitor cell numbers induced by granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor therapy

Abstract

The elevated white cell counts (WCC) and myeloid progenitor cell levels in the blood induced by granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor (G‐CSF) treatment were studied in three settings: cancer patients previously treated with chemo/radiotherapy (n = 13), untreated cancer patients (n = 5) and normal volunteers (n = 9). The inter‐individual variations in progenitor cell mobilization responses to G‐CSF and the impact of previous chemo/radiotherapy were investigated. The absolute levels of circulating progenitor cells, but not total white cells, were reduced significantly in the pretreated cancer patients (median 961, range 289–3355 per ml blood) as compared to untreated cancer patients (median 98..