Patients whose hematogones comprised > 5% bone marrow MNCs constitute a group with significantly improved survival, irrespective of HSC sources. (A-B) The Kaplan-Meier estimates of (A) OS and (B) RFS among patient subgroups with ≤ 1% (gray line), 1%-2% (green line), 2%-3% (orange line), 3%-4% (red line), 4%-5% (purple line), ≤ 5% (black bold line), or > 5% (blue bold line) hematogones in the bone marrow MNCs. Forty-three patients who developed > 5% MNC hematogones (HG⁺) showed significantly better 3-year OS and RFS, compared with any of each group (P < .01 and P < .05, respectively), as well as to 65 patients with ≤ 5% MNCs hematogones (HG⁻; P < .001 for both). (C-D) The Kaplan-Meier estimates of (C) OS and (D) RFS in HG⁺ and HG⁻ groups that received transplants with BMT or CBT. The improved OS and RFS were seen in HG⁺ groups regardless of the source of HSC. HG⁺ indicates patients developed hematogones (> 5% of bone marrow MNCs); HG⁻ indicates patients who failed to develop hematogones (≤ 5% of bone marrow MNCs).