Children's Hospital study demonstrates how bone marrow transplant can cure sickle cell diseaseNovember 07, 2008Results of study published in November issue of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation A unique approach to bone marrow transplantation pioneered in part by a Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC physician has proven to be the only safe and effective cure for sickle cell disease, according to a new study. Lakshmanan Krishnamurti, MD, a pediatric hematologist/oncologist at Children's Hospital, helped pioneer a form of bone marrow transplantation which relies on reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC). RIC regimens are less toxic to patients and therefore can be offered to patients with severe sickle cell disease because they eliminate life-threatening side effects generally associated with bone marrow transplantation. In a study published in the November issue of the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Dr. Krishnamurti and colleagues report that six of seven sickle cell patients who received RIC bone marrow transplants in the last decade now have donor marrow and are free from symptoms of their sickle cell disease. Dr. Krishnamurti led five of the seven transplants in the study. "Bone marrow transplant is the only known cure for sickle cell disease. But doctors have avoided performing them in these patients because complications from a traditional bone marrow transplant can be life-threatening," said Dr. Krishnamurti, director of the Sickle Cell Program at Children's Hospital. "Through the reduced-intensity approach we developed, the potential for complications is dramatically lessened. This study offers hope for a cure to thousands of patients with severe sickle cell disease." Traditionally, bone marrow transplants require heavy doses of chemotherapy prior to transplant in order to destroy the recipient's bone marrow so it will not reject the donated marrow. But with their bone marrow destroyed, transplant recipients become vulnerable to life-threatening complications, a risk viewed as unnecessary because sickle cell disease is not typically immediately life-threatening. Dr. Krishnamurti was the first physician in the world to perform a reduced-intensity bone marrow transplant in a patient with sickle cell disease while at the University of Minnesota in 1999. He joined Children's Hospital in 2003 and that year, he performed the region's first successful bone marrow transplant in a patient with sickle cell disease. Austin Jones, then 5, of Indiana, Pa., underwent an RIC bone marrow transplant Aug. 8, 2003, with donor marrow from his brother, Anthony Jr. Today, Austin, now 10, is free of sickle cell disease. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Related Bone Marrow Current Events and Bone Marrow News Articles Bone Implant Offers Hope for Skull Deformities A synthetic bone matrix offers hope for babies born with craniosynostosis, a condition that causes the plates in the skull to fuse too soon. U of M researchers find 2 units of umbilical cord blood reduce risk of leukemia recurrence A new study from the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota shows that patients who have acute leukemia and are transplanted with two units of umbilical cord blood (UCB) have significantly reduced risk of the disease returning. Scientists successfully reprogram blood cells Researchers have transplanted genetically modified hematopoietic stem cells into mice so that their developing red blood cells produce a critical lysosomal enzyme -preventing or reducing organ and central nervous system damage from the often-fatal genetic disorder Hurler's syndrome. Immune therapy can protect against or treat later lymphoma Specially developed immune system cells that target the common Epstein-Barr virus can protect immune-suppressed bone marrow transplant recipients against lymph system disease and cancers that arise from the viral infection. Stem cell therapy may offer hope for acute lung injury Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have shown that adult stem cells from bone marrow can prevent acute lung injury in a mouse model of the disease. New insight in the fight against the Leishmania parasite Professor Albert Descoteaux's team at Centre INRS - Institut Armand-Frappier has gained a better understanding of how the Leishmania donovani parasite manages to outsmart the human immune system and proliferate with impunity, causing visceral leishmaniasis, a chronic infection that is potentially fatal if left untreated. 2-million-year-old evidence shows tool-making hominins inhabited grassland environments In an article published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE on October 21, 2009, Dr Thomas Plummer of Queens College at the City University of New York, Dr Richard Potts of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and colleagues report the oldest archeological evidence of early human activities in a grassland environment, dating to 2 million years ago. Mice regain ability to extend telomeres suggesting potential for dyskeratosis congenita therapy The human genetic disease dyskeratosis congenita (DKC) is an autosomal dominant disease that leads to abnormalities in tissues with a rapid cell turnover - the skin, nails, bone marrow, lungs and gut. Strategy for mismatched stem cell transplants triggers protection against graft-vs.-host disease A new technique being tested in stem-cell transplants from imperfectly matched donors has revealed a striking, unforeseen response that can suppress graft-versus-host disease, a common and dangerous complication of mismatched transplants, report scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Multivisceral transplant survival rates improve with new treatment, says Pittsburgh study Data from the largest single-center experience of adult and pediatric intestinal and multivisceral transplantation show that survival rates have improved with the advent of innovative surgical techniques, novel immunosuppressive protocols and better post-operative management. More Bone Marrow Current Events and Bone Marrow News Articles |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||