The Mexican Way: a feasible approach to avoid DMSO toxicity

We read with great interest the paper of Lopez-Otero et al.,1 in which they describe a feasible approach of using high-dose chemotherapy and autologous transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma without cryopreservation of the PBSCs. In their study, they used a G-CSF-based steady-state mobilization strategy immediately followed by a single dose of high-dose melphalan (200 mg/m2, day −1) and transplantation of the fridge-stored (+4 °C) autologous, unmanipulated PBSCs on day 0. Using this regimen they observed response and survival rates comparable to those achieved by a classical transplantation strategy using cryopreserved autografts, which has also been previously demonstrated by Carey et al. and several other groups.2, 3