Pilot Study of Lymphoid Tumor Microenvironmental Dysruption Prior to Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation

In order to keep our immune systems healthy over our lifetime, certain cells in the bone marrow and lymph nodes called stromal cells nurture the immune cells and protect them from damage. Stromal cells and blood cells communicate using a protein called SDF1a. The investigators think that cancer cells including lymphoma and multiple myeloma can trick the stromal cells into helping them avoid damage from chemotherapy by using SDF1a. Plerixafor is a drug developed to block the effects of SDF1a and has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for use in humans to help release blood stem cells from the bone marrow for use in transplantation. The use of plerixafor to interrupt communication between stromal cells and cancer has not been approved by the FDA and is experimental.