Umbilical cord stem cells – pro
Lay summary: Cord stem cells have been shown to be equivalent to other allogeneic cells for transplantation in leukemia but not yet for other diagnoses.
Cord blood transplantation is a fairly recent but rapidly becoming established technique for transplnatation in leukemia. The first unrelated cord blood transplantations were performed in children. The first 25 unrelated cord blood transplantations were reported in 1996. Since then a number of reports appeared. This work has been followed by several studies, showing similar results in children. The New York Blood Center reported on 562 cases, 82% children, who underwent transplantation in a variety of centers with differing conditioning regimens and graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis. However, there have been retrospective matched pair analyses. Two studies in the New England Journal of Medicine reinforce the role of cord-blood transplantation in the treatment of leukemia in adults. Although this treatment is not recommended over HLA-matched donors from unrelated donor sources, it is a viable alternative that can be effective. (N Engl J Med. 2004;351:2255-2265, 2276, 2328). Although guidelines have not yet listed this alternative, more recent review articles and an editorial state that it is an equivalently effective approach, even in adults. Both reports reinforce the role of cord-blood transplantation in the treatment of adults with leukemia. It is realistic to anticipate that the current results for cord-blood transplantation in adults with hematologic cancers will contribute to more extended use in the coming years.
There is an ongoing trial: Single or Double Umbilical Cord Blood Unit Transplantation Followed by GVHD Prophylaxis With FK506 and MMF, NCT00244036.
J. Aschan Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: current status and future outlook Br. Med. Bull., October 5, 2006; (2006)
Karen K. Ballen New trends in umbilical cord blood transplantation
Blood, 15 May 2005, Vol. 105, No. 10, pp. 3786-3792
Vikram Mathews, MD and John F. DiPersio, MD, PhD Stem Cell Transplantation in Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in First Remission: What Are the Options? Current Hematology Reports 2004,
Vikas Gupta1, Martin S. Tallman2, and Daniel J. Weisdorf, Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for adults with acute myeloid leukemia: myths, controversies, and unknowns. Blood: 117 (8); February 24, 2011