Bone marrow and blood stem cell transplant survival rates equal, when donor is unrelated to patient
December 12, 2011 in Medical research
Patients who receive a blood stem cell transplant from a donor outside of their family to treat leukemia and other blood diseases are more likely to have graft failure but less likely to experience graft-versus-host disease, a condition caused by the donor cells attacking the recipient's body, if the transplanted blood cells come directly from a donor's bone marrow, rather than from blood stem cells circulating in the donor's bloodstream (PBSCs), according to new research. Although the study showed differences in the type and extent of complications, the results showed no difference in patient survival rates between these two major sources of donated blood cells.
The study, presented in the plenary session of the 53rd annual American Society of Hematology conference in San Diego, was conducted by the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN), a collaborative effort of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) at the Medical College of Wisconsin, the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), and the EMMES Corporation, together with 20 core transplant centers/consortia.
The randomized study included 50 transplant centers in the United States and Canada and compared two-year survival rates for 273 patients receiving PBSC with 278 patients receiving bone marrow. The study found that survival was the same using either blood cell source, but the complications following transplant were different depending on which source was used.
PBSCs resulted in better engraftment than bone marrow, but was associated with higher rates of chronic graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) (53% compared with 40% in bone marrow), and the GVHD was also more extensive. GVHD is a serious and often deadly post-transplant complication that occurs when the newly transplanted donor cells recognize the recipient's own cells as foreign and attack them.
"The study shows that many patients with life-threatening blood cancers can be cured with transplants from unrelated donors but also highlights areas where new strategies are needed to improve outcomes," said Mary Horowitz, M.D., chief scientific director of the CIBMTR at the Medical College, Robert A. Uihlein, Jr. Professor in Hematologic Research, and a co-author of the study.
Provided by
Medical College of Wisconsin
-
Biomarker detects graft-versus-host-disease in cancer patients after bone marrow transplant
Oct 21, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
No difference in survival between leukaemia patients 10 years after undergoing stem-cell or marrow transplant
Jan 31, 2010 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Bone marrow transplant patients may benefit from new immune research
Feb 11, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Research shows cord blood comparable to matched bone marrow
Jun 08, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Purified blood stem cells improve success of bone marrow transplants in mice, study shows
Aug 02, 2010 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Pressure-volume curve: Elastic Recoil Pressure don't make sense
May 18, 2013
-
If you became brain-dead, would you want them to pull the plug?
May 17, 2013
-
MRI bill question
May 15, 2013
-
Ratio of Hydrogen of Oxygen in Dessicated Animal Protein
May 13, 2013
-
Alcohol and acetaminophen
May 13, 2013
-
Marie Curie's leukemia
May 13, 2013
- More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences
More news stories
Study suggests new source of kidneys for transplant
Nearly 20 percent of kidneys that are recovered from deceased donors in the U.S. are refused for transplant due to factors ranging from scarring in small blood vessels of the kidney's filtering units to the organ going too ...
Medical research
13 hours ago |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
|
Discovery of circadian clock in mice hair reveals period of time when damage from radiotherapy can be quickly repaired
Discovering that mouse hair has a circadian clock - a 24-hour cycle of growth followed by restorative repair - researchers suspect that hair loss in humans from toxic cancer radiotherapy and chemotherapy ...
Medical research
14 hours ago |
5 / 5 (2) |
1
|
Do salamanders hold the solution to regeneration?
Salamanders' immune systems are key to their remarkable ability to regrow limbs, and could also underpin their ability to regenerate spinal cords, brain tissue and even parts of their hearts, scientists have ...
Medical research
15 hours ago |
4.9 / 5 (7) |
2
|
New study finds blind people have the potential to use their 'inner bat' to locate objects
New research from the University of Southampton has shown that blind and visually impaired people have the potential to use echolocation, similar to that used by bats and dolphins, to determine the location of an object.
Medical research
17 hours ago |
not rated yet |
1
|
Germ-fighting vaccine system makes great strides in delivery
A novel vaccine study from South Dakota State University (SDSU) will headline the groundbreaking research that will be unveiled at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists' (AAPS) National Biotechnology Conference ...
Medical research
18 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Holding drivers' attention
Each day, an average of nine people are killed in the United States and more than 1,000 injured by drivers doing something other than driving.
Genetic predictors of postpartum depression uncovered
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered specific chemical alterations in two genes that, when present during pregnancy, reliably predict whether a woman will develop postpartum depression.
Nobel laureate plays down flu pandemic scaremongering
A Nobel prize-winning scientist Tuesday played down "shock-horror scenarios" that a new virus strain will emerge with the potential to kill millions of people.
Study puts Huntington's disease trials on TRACK
(Medical Xpress)—A three-year multinational study has tracked and detailed the progression of Huntington's disease (HD), predicting clinical decline in people carrying the HD gene more than 10 years before ...
Child maltreatment increases risk of adult obesity
Children who have suffered maltreatment are 36% more likely to be obese in adulthood compared to non-maltreated children, according to a new study by King's College London. The authors estimate that the prevention or effective ...
New immune system discovered
(Medical Xpress)—A research team, led by Jeremy Barr, a biology post-doctoral fellow, unveils a new immune system that protects humans and animals from infection.