London: In a ray of hope for millions of
Leukaemia patients, American scientists have claimed to have
developed a technique which multiplies the small number of
stem cells in the donor blood, making it much more potent for
the treatment of the fatal disease.
It also eliminates the need for a matching donor -- whose
bone marrow can be transplanted to the patient, according to a
study which appeared in the journal Nature Medicine.
But there is always a risk that the patient`s body may
reject the new cells from the donor.
The alternate path is to introduce cells extracted from
umbilical cords as these cells do not have the characteristics
which would normally trigger immune rejection. So they can be
used in any patient, without the need for matching.
However, the only disadvantage with this process is that
a single cord did not have enough cells to meet the needs of
an adult patient.
Now, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center in Seattle have developed a process in which using a
protein they multiply the stem cells in the blood from the
umbilical cord before they are transplanted to the patient.
The technique has been tested on humans after successful
trials on animals, the BBC reported.
Leukaemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is
characterised by an abnormal proliferation of blood cells,
usually white blood cells -- leukocytes.
As part of the treatment, the infected bone marrow cells
of the patient are killed off and new cells are introduced in
their place.
Hailing the development, UK-based charity Leukaemia
Research said this could be the "holy grail" for doctors.
"This is a promising development towards this because the
concern has been that once stem cells start `growing` they
lose their stem cell properties and progress to ordinary blood
cells with a very limited lifespan," said Dr David Grant,
Scientific Director of the charity.
"The holy grail is to have an `off the peg` source of
unlimited numbers of `neutral` stem cells which can be given
to any patient safe in the knowledge that they will not cause
the very difficult `graft versus host` problems that lead to
rejection and often the death of the patient," Grant said.
PTI
