A relatively new source of stem cells has been used to treat leukemia. Mary Laughlin, who is a researcher at the National Center for Regenerative Medicine and an associate professor of hematology and oncology, and her colleagues at the Cleveland-based center successfully concluded a phase I clinical trial using umbilical cord blood stem cells to treat leukemia. Patients with leukemia were transplanted with umbilical cord blood stem cells from mismatched, unrelated donors after receiving full body irradiation. The study proved that umbilical cord blood stem cells, even from unrelated donors, is a feasible alternative source of stem cells for transplantation in adults because these stem cells can repair the blood-producing bone marrow with a low risk for rejection.
Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is an effective medical therapy for life-threatening blood-related disorders. However, BMT is limited by the lack of available matched donors. A mis-match between the donor and the recipient can result in a rejection response which can cause from skin rashes, diarrhea, intestinal bleeding, liver damage and even death.
Umbilical cord blood stem cells have been used as an alternative stem cell source to bone marrow stem cells and offer the advantages of easy procurement, no risk to donors, reduced risk of transmitting infections, immediate availability of frozen units, and acceptable partial HLA mismatches.
The importance of finding new sources of stem cells to treat various blood-related diseases is evident in the more than 40,000 BMT performed each year worldwide. Of these, 9,000 people in North America undergo stem cell transplantation for leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma. The disease prevalence continues to increase with an estimated 35,000 new cases of leukemia diagnosed and 22,600 deaths in the United States in 2005.
Dr. Laughlin's trial enrolled patients suffering from severe leukemia. Each was transplanted with mismatched, unrelated umbilical cord blood stem cells after receiving full-body irradiation to kill the bone marrow. Only one third of these patients were diagnosed with graft vs host disease after transplantation compared to 70-90% of patients who have received bone marrow stem cells from unrelated donors. Dr. Laughlin reports that 56% of her patients are alive and event free at median follow up over 3 years. These findings herald the use of UCB from unrelated, unmatched donors as a feasible alternative source of stem cells for treatment of adults.
Kleen TO, Kadereit S, Fanning LR, Jaroscak J, Fu P, Meyerson HJ, Kulchycki L, Slivka LF, Kozik M, Tary-Lehmann M, Laughlin MJ. Recipient-Specific Tolerance after HLA-Mismatched Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation.
Transplantation. 2005 Nov 15;80(9):1316-1322.
PMID: 16314801 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
The National Center for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM) builds upon leading research and clinical programs at its founding institutions—Case Western Reserve University, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and University Hospitals of Cleveland—in heart disease, cancer, genetic disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases, coupled with a 25-year history of research on non-embryonic stem cells at these institutions. This combination of outstanding clinical and research programs coupled with tested and proven experience of using non-embryonic stem cell transplantation to treat patients makes this center unique in the United States.
Case Western Reserve University is committed to the free exchange of ideas, reasoned debate and intellectual dialogue. Speakers and scholars with a diversity of opinions and perspectives are invited to the campus to provide the community with important points of view, some of which may be deemed controversial. The views and opinions of those invited to speak on the campus do not necessarily reflect the views of the university administration or any other segment of the university community.