Successful autografting in chronic myelogenous leukaemia using Philadelphia negative blood progenitor cells mobilized with rHuG-CSF alone in a patient responding to alpha-interferon

Several non-randomized studies suggest a possible survival advantage for chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) patients treated with an autologous stem-cell transplantation. Due to the possible contribution of residual leukaemic cells present in the inoculum in post-transplant relapse, several methods are being evaluated to eliminate neoplastic cells or to select 'normal' (Ph¹ negative) progenitor cells for autografting. Recently, several studies have shown that Ph¹ negative blood progenitor cells can be mobilized by rHuG-CSF alone in patients who have a cytogenetic response to alpha-interferon (IFN). We describe the first case, as far as we are aware, of a CML patient responding to IFN autografted by using blood progenitor cells collected by rHuG-CSF alone.