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Engraftment Capacity of Umbilical Cord Blood Cells Processed by Either Whole Blood Preparation or Filtration

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) preparation needs to be optimized in order to develop more simplified procedures for volume reduction, as well as to reduce the amount of contaminating cells within the final stem cell transplant. We evaluated a novel filter device (StemQuick™E) and compared it with our routine buffy coat (BC) preparation procedure for the enrichment of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs). Two groups of single or pooled UCB units were filtered (each n = 6), or equally divided in two halves and processed by filtration and BC preparation in parallel (n = 10). The engraftment capacity of UCB samples processed by whole blood (WB) preparation was compared with paired samples processed by filtration in the nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mouse animal model. Filtration of UCB units in the two groups with a mean volume of 87.8 and 120.7 ml, respectively, and nucleated cell (NC) content of 9.7 and 23.8 × 108 resulted in a sufficient mean cell recovery for mononucleated cells ([MNCs] 74.2%‐77.5%), CD34+ cells (76.3%‐79.0%), and colony‐forming cells (64.1%‐86.3%). Moreover, we detected a relevant depletion of the transplants for RBCs (89.2%‐90.0%) and platelets ([PLTs] 77.5%‐86.1%). In contrast, the mean depletion rate using BC processing proved to be significantly different for PLTs (10%, p = 0.03) and RBCs (39.6%, p < 0.01). The NC composition showed a highly significant increase in MNCs and a decrease in granulocytes after filtration (p < 0.01), compared with a less significant MNC increase in the BC group (p < 0.05). For mice transplanted with WB‐derived progenitors, we observed a mean of 15.3% ± 15.5% of human CD45+ cells within the BM compared with 19.9% ± 16.8% for mice transplanted with filter samples (p = 0.03). The mean percentage of human CD34+ cells was 4.2% ± 3.1% for WB samples and 4.5% ± 3.2% for filter samples (p = 0.68). As the data of NOD/SCID mice transplantation demonstrated a significant engraftment capacity of HPCs processed by filtration, no negative effect on the engraftment potential of filtered UCB cells versus non‐volume‐reduced cells from WB transplants was found. The StemQuick™E filter devices proved to be a useful tool for Good Manufacturing Practices conform enrichment of HPCs and MNCs out of UCB. Filtration enables a quick and standardized preparation of a volume‐reduced UCB transplant, including a partial depletion of granulocytes, RBCs, and PLTs without the need for centrifugation. Therefore, it seems very probable that filter‐processed UCB transplants will also result in sufficient hematopoietic reconstitution in humans.