United States: A new study suggests that an old drug, used in a novel way, could enable more patients with severe blood diseases to undergo stem cell transplants.
Details of the Breakthrough
This drug, cyclophosphamide, may enable patients to undergo stem cell transplantation even if there is only partial relatedness and the blood type is not similar at all, according to the researchers.
Stem cell transplant from a stranger was stated by researchers to have various impacts on medical treatment, asserting that overall, blood cancer patients who undergo stem cell transplant followed by cyclophosphamide have a one-year survival rate of 79 percent.
According to Dr. Antonio Jimenez Jimenez, the researcher and a physician-scientist with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, “The outcomes seem to be very comparable to those of a fully matched donor,” as US News reported.
How Cyclophosphamide Works
Taking cyclophosphamide several days after transplantation can decrease the probability of GvHD, a critical condition characterized by transplanted cells attacking the receptors’ organism.
It is a prevalent condition in marrow transplants where the donor and donee are biologically unrelated; this condition affects 60-80 percent of these patients, based on NIH.
But the study showed that the overall incidence of GvHD was actually lower than expected, with only 51 percent of the patients having GvHD by their first anniversary, and other side effects, including cancer recurrence, were less common as well.
Challenges in Donor Matching
Matching donors and recipients for stem cell transplants is particularly challenging for blood cancer patients. The National Marrow Donor Program has over forty million potential donors, but disparities exist: only 50 percent of Hispanic patients and 25 percent of Black patients find fully matched donors, compared to over 70 percent of white patients.
Researchers have previously used cyclophosphamide to help patients accept partially matched stem cells from relatives. Given that full sibling matches occur in 25 percent of cases and partial matches in 50 percent, researchers wondered if cyclophosphamide could be effective for mismatched but partially related transplants as well.
Study Results and Future Implications
In an earlier study, 80 patients who received bone marrow transplants from partially matched but unrelated donors had high survival rates. For the new study, scientists tested the procedure on 70 adults with advanced blood cancers, each receiving a partially matched stem cell donation from an unrelated donor. The new approach is expected to help patients access higher-quality donations from younger, healthier donors.