Birthweight of full-term infants is associated with cord blood CD34+ cell concentration

• Published in: Acta Paediatrica Vol. 93; no. 10; pp. 1323 - 1329
• Main Authors: Aroviita, P, Teramo, K, Hiilesmaa, V, Westman, P, Kekomäki, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2004; Blackwell
• Subjects: Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Antigens, CD34 - analysis; Biological and medical sciences; Birth Weight; Birthweight; CD34+ cell; Cell Count; cord blood; Emergency and intensive care: neonates and children. Prematurity. Sudden death; Fetal Blood - cytology; General aspects; Gestational Age; Hematopoietic Stem Cells - chemistry; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Intensive care medicine; intrauterine growth; Medical sciences; Regression Analysis; stem cell; Human; Pediatrics; cord blood; Growth; Stem cell; Birthweight; Infant; Concentration; In utero; Blood; CD34+ cell; Blood cell; Association; Uterus; Female genital system; Birth weight; Umbilical cord; intrauterine growth
• ISSN: 0803-5253; 1651-2227
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2004.tb02931.x

Aim: CD34+ cell counts are used to define the haematopoietic stem cell potential of a given cord blood transplant. The aim was to test the hypothesis that high concentration of cord blood haematopoietic progenitor and stem cells could be a reflection of intrauterine growth, of which birthweight is an indicator. Methods: Simple and multiple regression analyses were applied to test cord blood bank data on 1368 infants for associations of selected obstetric factors and cellular contents of cord blood. Results: When groups were formed based on the extreme values (5th versus 95th percentiles) of a given variable, e.g. birthweight, the term infants having the highest birthweights were found to have statistically significantly higher median cord blood CD34+ cell concentrations. Also, infants in the top 50th percentile of relative birthweight had higher median CD34+ cell concentration than infants in the low 50th percentile. In multiple regression analysis, the correlation between birthweight and CD34+ cell concentration was statistically clearly significant. Notably, while an expected correlation between gestational age and nucleated cell concentration was found, there was no association between infant gestational age and CD34+ cell concentration. Conclusion: Haematopoietic progenitor and stem cells may reflect intrauterine growth and have a more central role in foetal development than has been reported earlier.