Steady-state mobilization of peripheral blood progenitor cells by cytokines alone in patients with solid tumors or hematological malignancies

Cytokines are involved in hematopoiesis and cell growth regulation. Many cy tokines have the property of increasing the number of hematopoietic progeni tor cells circulating in peripheral blood. Since it has been shown that per ipheral blood progenitor support after myeloablative therapy resulted in a faster engraftment than after autologous bone marrow support, recent effort is focusing on optimizing stem cell harvest by different cytokines, cytoki ne combination, or evaluation of dose and schedule dependencies. One of the first cytokines shown to mobilize stem cells within peripheral blood was t he granulocyte-stimulating factor (G-CSF). This review is focusing on the c urrent state of cytokine-induced mobilization of stem cells in patients wit h hematological malignancies or solid tumors.