Mobilized Stem Cells Help Recovery

[Guest guest]

Bone Marrow or Peripheral Blood Stem Cells?

Stem cells collected from blood are associated with more rapid bone marrow

recovery and greater ease of collection than stem cells collected from bone

marrow. In the early 1990's, doctors began evaluating whether a growth factor (

Neupogen®) administered to normal donors could mobilize enough stem cells into

the blood for collection and support of an allogeneic stem cell transplant.

Comparisons evaluating stem cells collected from bone marrow and stem cells

collected from peripheral blood have been performed in patients undergoing

allogeneic stem cell transplant. Patients infused with stem cells collected from

blood have faster recovery of bone marrow blood cell production; fewer red blood

cell and platelet transfusions; and shorter admissions to the hospital than

patients treated with allogeneic stem cells collected from bone marrow.

In patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplant, Neupogen®-mobilized stem

cells also appear to provide more rapid bone marrow recovery compared to stem

cells collected from bone marrow. The main side effect stem cell donors

experience is mild bone pain from the Neupogen injection. Additionally,

Neupogen® mobilization of blood stem cells also results in many more

T-lymphocytes being collected. The increased numbers of T-lymphocytes could make

graft-versus-host disease worse or have an anti-cancer effect. In order to

determine the best source of stem cells for allogeneic stem cell transplant,

clinical trials are currently being performed that directly compare stem cells

collected from blood or bone marrow.

Recently, doctors in Holland have been able to grow and expand lymphocytes

outside the body that kill leukemia cells without damaging normal cells. They

have now infused these lymphocytes into a patient with leukemia who had relapsed

after an allogeneic bone marrow transplant. Following infusion of the

lymphocytes, this patient achieved a complete disappearance of leukemia. This

may represent the first time expanded T-lymphocytes have been shown to have a

beneficial anti-cancer effect when infused into a patient. This observation is

important because the technique can potentially be used against a variety of

cancers and offer a less toxic and more specific approach to cancer therapy.

http://tinyurl.com/4lvnepq

FYI,

Lottie Duthu

FYI,

Lottie Duthu