An innovative new procedure involving umbilical cord blood stem cells has been used to treat a young woman with leukaemia. Daniela Lakosilova was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in 2007, at the young age of 12.
Daniela underwent the usual forms of treatment for this type of leukaemia — primarily radiation and chemotherapy. These treatment methods are successful in most leukaemia cases; however some children do relapse in the years following their initial remission.
That is what happened for Daniela, when the cancer resurfaced in 2012. Doctors asked Daniela if she would prefer to go through chemotherapy again or try a stem cell transplant. She chose the stem cell transplant and her doctors began to look for a match in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) registry.
Despite million of donors listed within the database, unfortunately a match could not be found for Daniela. This situation is actually fairly common with up to 50% of adults and children unable to find a stem cell match on the database.
Haplo-cord transplantation
Doctors decided to use a cutting edge technique call haplo-cord transplantation. This technique combines cells from two sources:
- Half-matched stem cells from a related donor (haploidentical match)
- Well matched stem cells from umbilical blood
By combining these two types of stem cells, the treatment was far more likely to be successful.
Half-matched stem cells can engraft quickly (start to grow and form blood cells), but only do so for a short amount of time. The umbilical cord blood stem cells use this period to better establish themselves. Once the umbilical stem cells are established, they will produce blood cells indefinitely.
Haplo-cord made stem cell transplants work for many more people. Individuals who can’t find a stem cell match can still be treated thanks to this technique.
Unfortunately it wasn’t an easy ride for Daniela, as she experienced graft vs host disease and other complications related to the stem cell transplant. These complications are avoided in transplants where a person uses their own umbilical cord blood stem cells, because they are a 100% genetic match. An important factor when considering private umbilical cord blood banking.
Daniela is now in complete remission and looking forward to completing her college degree. Another success story thanks to stem cells and the remarkable technologies developed by medical experts.
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