The new stem cell multiplication therapy helps the people suffering from leukemia, a cancer
of the blood or bone marrow, by eliminating the requirement of a matching donor needed for the bone marrow transplant, which is essential in leukemia patients.
Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle initiated the research that helped in developing the technique of increasing the concentration of stem cells from 200,000 per kilogram to six million.
Dr Colleen Delaney, the leader of the study, informs, “The real ground-breaking aspect of this research is that we have shown that you can manipulate stem cells in the lab with the goal of increasing their numbers.”
“When given to a person, these cells can rapidly give rise to white blood cells and other components of the blood system,” he adds.
Benefits of the new technique
The researchers have developed a procedure in which a protein is used for multiplication of stem cells in the blood from the umbilical cord before transplanting them in the leukemia patient.
The blood in the umbilical cord is clean and does not need a match. The scientists used it as an alternative for finding a suitable donor for the bone marrow transplant that, accompanied by chemotherapy, helps in getting rid of the disease.
Also the new technique only took 14 days for the transplanted cells to engraft, which was lesser than the average of four weeks that it takes using donor blood for the transplant.
It may be noted that the more time the cells take to engraft, greater are the chances of the immune system getting damaged, resulting in infections that can even cause death. This happens as there are no white blood cells left in the body to wade off the infections.
The technique was tested on 10 leukemia patients, and seven out of these are still alive, showing no signs of the return of the disease.
Findings a promising development
Dr David Grant, the scientific director of the charity, Leukemia Research, says, “This is a promising development 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.”
Calling the technique the ‘holy grail’ for doctors, he says that the technique can help develop unlimited numbers of stem cells that can be given to the needy patient and save his life.
The present research and its findings have been published in the medical journal ‘Nature Medicine’.
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