In my conversation with many doctors, there is often a disbelief that cord blood stem cells can be used for successful transplantation. Although, I've been doing my very best to inform them that many adults have also been treated with cord blood stem cells, and that the applications are not limited to pediatric leukemias, I guess the detractors always get more attention for their comments than the published evidence.
Now, I'm happy to see this news published in the prestigious medical journal BLOOD* which states the results of a study conducted by researchers in Japan who compared the outcomes of patients with leukemia or lymphoma who underwent allogeneic stem cell transplants from either cord blood, peripheral blood or bone marrow.
The results were succinctly stated as follows:
At three years mortality related to treatment was 9% for those treated with umbilical cord transplants and 13% for those treated with bone marrow or peripheral blood transplants.
At three years relapses occurred in 17% for those treated with umbilical cord transplants and 26% for those treated with bone marrow or peripheral blood transplants.
At three years cancer-free survival was 70% for those treated with umbilical cord transplants and 60% for those treated with bone marrow or peripheral blood transplants.
For patients who were at a standard risk of developing a recurrence, cancer-free survival at three years was 93% for those treated with umbilical cord transplants and 85% for those treated with bone marrow or peripheral blood transplants.
For patients who were at a high risk of developing a recurrence, cancer-free survival at three years was 56% for those treated with umbilical cord transplants, compared with 45% for those treated with bone marrow or peripheral blood transplants.
GVHD was less frequent after umbilical cord transplants compared with bone marrow or peripheral blood transplants.
The researchers concluded that umbilical cord transplants provide results that are comparable to or better than those achieved with standard allogeneic stem cell transplants utilizing peripheral blood or bone marrow stem cells from a related donor.
These results provide additional evidence that the use of umbilical cord stem cells may be an effective alternative to an allogeneic stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor.
With these results, I'm hoping that haematologists will be considering cord blood stem cells as a source and option for patients equivalent terms, not just as a last resort as it is often currently viewed today. And, if all babies bank their own cord blood stem cells, this will avail them to those units as adults in the future**.
*Reference: Takahashi S, Ooi J, Tomonari A, et al. Comparative single-institute analysis of cord blood transplantation from unrelated donors with bone marrow or peripheral blood stem-cell transplants from related donors in adult patients with hematologic malignancies after myeloablative conditioning regimen. Blood. 2007;109:1322-1330.
**StemLife provides cord blood and adult stem cell banking services for individuals and families. If you've missed the cord blood stem cell banking service for your child, you can consider enrolling in our adult stem cell banking service. Do contact us if you'd like more information.
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