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The results clearly indicate the efficacy of cord blood stem cells when bone
marrow donors are unavailable for high risk patients.
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CLEVELAND: A new study published in the New England Journal of
Medicine confirms that stem cells derived from the umbilical cords of
newborn babies are a viable and effective transplant source for
thousands of leukemia patients who have no other treatment option.
"As many as 16,000 leukemia patients diagnosed each year require a
bone marrow transplant, but have no matched relative or can't find a
match in the national bone marrow registry," says Mary J. Laughlin, MD,
lead author on the study and hematologist oncologist at Case
Comprehensive Cancer Center and University Hospitals of Cleveland
Ireland Cancer Center. "Umbilical cords that are normally discarded
after birth could provide real hope for these patients."
Dr. Laughlin led an international team of researchers in
collaboration with the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry and
the New York Blood Center National Cord Blood Program. They conducted an
analysis and comparison of treatment results in more than 500 adult
leukemia patients undergoing transplant.
Researchers directly compared patients who had cord blood stem cell
transplants with two groups: patients who had fully-matched unrelated
bone marrow transplants and patients who had one antigen-mismatched
unrelated bone marrow transplants. The study included patient's ages 16
to 60 years who underwent transplants in the United States during a
six-year period ending in 2001.
Survival rates were highest (33 percent) for those bone marrow
transplants with matched unrelated donors. Survival rates were the same
(22 percent) for cord blood and one antigen-mismatched unrelated bone
marrow transplant patients--results that clearly indicate the efficacy
of cord blood stem cells when bone marrow donors are unavailable,
according to Dr. Laughlin, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Case
Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
"These are very high risk patients who undergo cord blood transplants
only as a last resort effort to stay alive," Dr. Laughlin says. "Even
with a cord blood transplant, these patients often suffer from
life-threatening infections. But the fact is, without attempting this
innovative therapy, none of them would survive."
"Techniques that extend the availability of stem cell transplantation
to those patients in desperate need are an important and valuable step
in the right direction," said Marshall Lichtman, MD, The Leukemia &
Lymphoma Society's Executive Vice President. "Dr. Laughlin's study gives
renewed hope to adult patients without a sibling stem cell donor.
Continued research is needed, however, to improve the outlook for the
large proportion of patients who do not yet benefit from these
approaches." The Society helped fund the study.
Cord blood transplantation provides leukemia patients with stem
cells, enabling them to produce healthy blood cells in a procedure
previously shown to be highly effective in children with the disease. As
a stem cell source, umbilical cord blood is not controversial and
readily available; in fact, cord blood is normally discarded after a
baby's birth.
New mothers can donate cord blood immediately after delivery.
Ordinarily, the placenta (the afterbirth), and the cord blood it
contains, is discarded. Now a trained technician can collect the cord
blood which remains in the placenta after the baby is born and the cord
is cut. The donated cord blood is processed and frozen and stored for
any patient in the future that might need a transplant.
The availability of cord blood makes it a logical choice for doctors
and their patients when a matching bone marrow donor cannot be found. A
patient's best chance for survival comes from a bone marrow donor who is
related to the patient and matches the patient's tissue type. A bone
marrow transplant from an unrelated donor may be an option when there is
no donor available in the family, but offers a poorer chance for
survival, even when fully matched.
"The fact is, approximately 20,000 leukemia patients nationwide need
transplants but only 20 percent of them have a sibling match, so there
remains a large group--about 16,000 patients--who are forced to seek
donors from a marrow donor registry in hopes of finding a match from
donors who aren't related to them," Dr. Laughlin says. "But only a small
percentage of patients are lucky enough to find a transplant match at
the registry, which is why the cord blood transplant is so important."
Source
Mary J. Laughlin, M.D., Mary Eapen, M.B., B.S., Pablo Rubinstein,
M.D., John E. Wagner, M.D., Mei-Jei Zhang, Ph.D., Richard E. Champlin,
M.D., Cladd Stevens, M.D., Juliet N. Barker, M.D., Robert P. Gale, M.D.,
Ph.D., Hillard M. Lazarus, M.D., David I. Marks, M.D., Ph.D., Jon J. van
Rood, M.D., Andromachi Scaradavou, M.D., and Mary M. Horowitz, M.D.
Outcomes after Transplantation of Cord Blood or Bone Marrow from
Unrelated Donors in Adults with Leukemia. NEJM. Volume 351:2265-2275.
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