Fig. 3
The peripheral blood concentrations (a, upper part, n = 6) and percentages (b, lower part, n = 7) of total CD14+ monocytes and classical, intermediate and non-classical monocyte subsets in auto-transplanted myeloma patients. Monocyte levels were estimated by flow cytometry. We investigated the levels for a total of eight patients (Table 1, patients 15, 17, 18, 22–24) during initial hematopoietic and immunological reconstitution (tested 10–12 days posttransplant) when the patients showed increasing neutrophils > 0.2 × 109/L and thrombocyte transfusion independence). Horizontal lines indicate median values after 10–12 days. The shaded parts of each figure indicate the variation range of the corresponding peripheral blood levels tested 2 days pre-transplant (referred to as day − 2), i.e. immediately before high-dose melphalan conditioning therapy. Black symbols represent patients receiving their first auto-transplant, open symbols represent patients receiving their second auto-transplantation