Analysis of Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Engraftment After Allogeneic HSCT in Pediatric Patients: A Large Multicenter Study

The mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) role after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is still a matter of debate; in particular, MSC engraftment in recipient bone marrow (BM) is unclear. A total of 46 patients were analyzed for MSC and hemopoietic stem cell engraftment after HSCT. The majority of patients had the BM as the stem cell source, and acute leukemia was the main indication for HSCT. Mesenchymal and hematopoietic stem cell chimerism analysis was carried out through specific polymorphic tandemly repeated regions. All patients reached complete donor engraftment; no evidence of donor-derived MSC engraftment was noted. Our data indicate that MSCs after HSCT remain of recipient origin despite the following: (i) myeloablative conditioning; (ii) the stem cell source; (iii) the interval from HSCT to BM analysis; (iv) the underlying disease before HSCT; and (v) the patients' or the donors' age at HSCT.