Dear Dr. Vogt: A few years ago, our transplanters asked for CFU assay results on almost all products. We have supported this, doing a progenitor assay on any cell product we process. The logic here makes some sense -- flow cytometry, cell counts, and viability measurement are all invaluable, but do not evaluate the functional characteristics of the cells. The progenitor assay allows one to assess the proliferation and differentiation functions of the cells, which is what you care about in transplant in the first place. So, I'm pretty strongly biased in favor of CFU measurement. As CD34 measurement has improved, however, our transplant docs now are saying that they are less interested in progenitor assay results. I'm the one who isn't comfortable with this, but it is an increasingly common viewpoint among transplant clinicians. While we still do the assay and also get flow cytometry results, I know that a number of transplant centers now do CFU's only under special circumstances. I'm not surprised your reference lab doesn't offer CFU assays. It's a fairly time-consuming test, and I'm not sure it would be one of the more profitable. I'd be interested in knowing the preferences of your transplant docs on this one. Scott *************************************************************** Scott R. Burger, M.D. Medical Director, Cell Therapy Clinical Laboratory Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology University of Minnesota burge009@gold.tc.umn.edu 612-626-4919 612-624-5411 (Fax)
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