Monocyte enriched apheresis for preparation of dendritic cells (DC) to be used in cellular therapy.

We describe that with one leukapheresis procedure it is feasible to obtain sufficient numbers of monocytes to be utilized in dendritic cell therapies. Twenty-two leukaphereses were performed on eight healthy volunteers and 13 cancer patients, using Cobe Spectra. An on-line sample was drawn as soon as a stable interface was established. The concentration of monocytes in the sample was used to calculate the volume to be collected to reach target numbers of monocytes. A recovery unit was used to calculate the efficacy of the leukaphereses and we demonstrate an efficacy for monocytes correlating with the amount of processed blood.