SAN BRUNO, Calif., June 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Families freezing their
newborn's cord blood for potential future use got a boost today when
researchers reported that cord blood transplants between matched siblings were
half as likely to result in the life-threatening complication of graft vs.
host disease than bone marrow transplants between matched siblings. Graft vs.
host disease, or GVHD, is a form of rejection that kills up to 40% of
transplant patients.
"Graft versus host disease is the most important transplant-related
complication," said Mary Horowitz, M.D., professor of medicine at the Medical
College and scientific director of the International Bone Marrow Transplant
Registry.
The study, involving 2165 patients and appearing in the New England
Journal of Medicine, reported that although the incidence of GVHD was
significantly less with cord blood, the overall survival rate between the cord
blood and bone marrow groups was the same. "The reason survival was the same
is that there is a higher risk that the graft won't take since there are not
as many cells in the cord blood as in a typical bone marrow transplant. That
is the major problem with cord blood transplants," said Dr. Horowitz.
But that problem may be overcome as "cell expansion" techniques are
developed. Companies like Aastrom Biosciences have been active on Wall Street
lately with announcements of successful expansion of cord blood stem cells,
which were used to treat breast cancer patients. The technology is based on
an "incubator" approach, where a sample of stem cells is expanded into a
larger number of cells which are then used in transplant.
"As physicians continue to establish the transplant potential of umbilical
cord blood stem cells, more parents are electing to collect and save their
newborn's cord blood for possible use in the future," according to Stephen
Grant, vice president of communications at Cord Blood Registry, the country's
largest cord blood bank. "In fact, a number of our clients are physicians and
scientists who know the current uses and possible future applications of cord
blood," Grant continued.
In the past 12 months, scientists have been opening new doors into
futuristic applications of stem cells-cells which have the ability to
differentiate into other types of tissue and hold promise for the treatment of
a myriad of diseases.
In November, Japanese researchers reported in a meeting of the American
Heart Association, that they had isolated certain types of cells found in
umbilical cord blood, called "progenitor endothelial cells," that may one day
enable heart patients to "grow" their own bypasses instead of having surgical
vein grafts. The cells form the lining of blood vessels and result in a
process known as angiogenesis.
Cord Blood Registry is the nation's largest family cord blood bank.
Information regarding cord blood cell collection and banking is available on
the Internet at http://www.cordblood.com or through a toll-free number,
888-CORD-BLOOD or 888-267-3256.
SOURCE Cord Blood Registry
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Related links:
http://www.cordblood.com
CONTACT:
Sam Yoo, Communications Coordinator of Cord
Blood Registry, 800-588-6377, ext. 239.
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