A new study conducted by researchers in the United States has found that cord blood stem cells may be more effective at treating leukaemia than bone marrow stem cells. The research was performed by the University of Colorado Cancer Center.

The study looked at the treatment outcomes for leukaemia patients treated with stem cell transplants between 2009 and 2014. The researchers found that the incidence of chronic graft-versus-host disease was approximately 44% in patients who received a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor. That figure was only 8% in patients who had received a cord blood stem cell transplant.

The researchers also found that patients who received cord blood required less immunosuppressant drugs and were less likely to suffer from an infection. While there was no difference in the survival rates between patients treated with cord blood or bone marrow, the side effects and risk of complications was much lower with cord blood.

Dr. Jonathan Gutman, an investigator at the CU Cancer Center, says of the findings: “When you do an allogeneic transplant – when someone else is the donor – the new blood system has the potential to attack the patient. This is graft-versus-host disease, which can be debilitating and even fatal. Our results show that, long term, receiving a cord blood transplant is less likely than receiving a transplant from an unrelated, matched donor to result in graft-versus-host disease.”

Chronic graft-versus-host disease occurs when transplanted tissues begins to attack the cells of the recipient. It can cause a variety of side effects including skin rashes, mouth sores, dry eyes, and liver inflammation.

Historically, doctors have reserved the use of cord blood for recipients who cannot find a bone marrow match. It is much easier to find a compatible donor match using cord blood stem cells because they are younger cells that are less likely to trigger an immune system response.

The new findings may encourage more doctors to use cord blood stem cells in an effort to reduce the types of side effects that their patients experience.

Source: Cord blood outperforms matched, unrelated donor in bone marrow transplant

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