First Ever Newborn-to-Mother Transplant Gives Mom Best Mother's Day Gift
SAN BRUNO, Calif., May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- A toddler in Florida may be
giving her mom the best mother's day gift ever -- the gift of life.
Doctors at one of the nation's leading cancer transplant centers are
preparing for a first-of-its-kind transplant where they will infuse a little
girl's cord blood stem cells into her mother, who has chronic myelocytic
leukemia (CML). More than 1,500 cord blood transplants have been performed
world-wide, but never before has cord blood been used for the newborn's
mother.
The family arranged with Cord Blood Registry(TM) to preserve the stem
cells that remained in their daughter's umbilical cord after she was born
three years ago because of the potential life-saving benefits of the cells.
Stem cells are the building blocks of the blood and immune system and are used
to treat more than 30 types of cancer and blood disorders.
The cells have been in storage at the Registry's laboratory in Tucson,
which is affiliated with the University of Arizona, and now give the Florida
family the best odds for cancer recovery. Using family banked cord blood has
many advantages over stem cells from an unrelated donor -- most importantly,
the survival rate doubles for patients being treated with related cord blood
stem cells. One reason may be because when tissue is matched for a transplant
only 6 major HLA proteins are considered. With a relative's stem cells,
however, many of the minor HLA proteins are likely to match as well, which may
decrease the risk of graft-vs-host disease, an often fatal reaction to
transplant.
To date, thirteen Cord Blood Registry families have used their banked
newborn's cord blood for transplantation and all have successfully engrafted.
Early test results for the pending transplant reveal that the daughter is a
near perfect, 5/6 HLA match for her mother -- promising news and a potential
gift of life this Mother's Day.
Cbr Systems, Inc., offers cutting-edge health care technologies for
expectant parents and newborns through Cord Blood Registry, the world's
largest and most experienced family cord blood stem cell bank with more than
30,000 samples in storage, and NewScreen(TM), the most advanced newborn
screening available. More information is available at http://www.cordblood.com
or by calling toll-free 888-CORD BLOOD.
Web site: http://www.cordblood.com.
SOURCE Cbr Systems, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.cordblood.com
CONTACT:
Sam Yoo, 800-588-6377, ext. 239, or
syoo@cordblood.com, or Amy Seirer, 800-588-6377, ext. 303, or
aseirer@cordblood.com, both of Cbr Systems, Inc.
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