Autologous stem cell transplantation involves the reinfusion of the patient’s own stem cells, previously harvested and cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen, to reconstitute the haematopoietic cell function after the administration of high-dose therapy. The infused stem cells are obtained from the patient’s bone marrow or peripheral blood at a time when the marrow displays minimal or no disease infi...

Background: Umbilical cord blood (UCB) is an alternative source of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), used in Leukemia treatment. CD26+ cells, a fraction of CD34 positive cells, are a major population of UCB cells which negatively regulate the in vivo homing and engraftment of HSCs. CD26 is highly expressed in various cells such as HSCs, immune cells, fibroblasts, and epithelial ce...

AIM To study the short tandem repeat (STR) pattern of DNA from the blood, buccal swabs, and hair follicles of the recipients of allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to examine whether these tissues contain donor derived cells. METHODS The study enrolled 25 patients who sustained engraftment. Peripheral blood, buccal swabs, and hair follicles were collected on days 21-30, 90, and ...