In vitro colony formation from fetal liver cells and their infusions in patients of aplastic anaemia.

This study evaluated whether the number of granulocyte-macrophage colony forming units (CFU-GM) grown from fetal liver in agar in vitro, would affect the ability of fetal liver infusion (FLI) to achieve a favourable outcome in patients with severe aplastic anaemia. Nine fetal liver infusions from 12 to 24 week old abortuses were administered to six patients with severe aplastic anaemia. Three samples from each fetal liver were scored for cluster (3-50 cells) and colony (>50 cells) formation after 12-15 days of culture. The mean numbers of clusters observed were 165.4+/-51.5 and colonies were 41+/-15.3 per 8 x 10(5) cells plated. Two patients showed partial response to FLI therapy. However, no correlation between fetal liver CFU-GM counts and patient outcome after FLI (response and survival) was observed.