{"id":1324,"date":"2015-06-22T09:40:15","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T09:40:15","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2016-05-10T10:07:48","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T10:07:48","slug":"transplant-awareness-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/2015\/06\/transplant-awareness-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Stem Cell Transplant Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"body\">\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" title=\"smaller_man_chemo.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/smaller_man_chemo.jpg\" alt=\"smaller_man_chemo.jpg\" width=\"287\" height=\"431\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>This week we are raising awareness of stem cell transplants.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stem cell transplants are most commonly used in the treatment of cancers and blood disorders including\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/leukaemia-and-stem-cells\/\">leukaemia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/lymphoma-and-stem-cells\/\">lymphoma<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/myeloma-and-stem-cells\/\">myeloma<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/sickle-cell-anaemia-and-stem-cells\/\">sickle cell disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Intensive chemotherapy is sometimes used in the treatment of cancer as it kills cancer cells. \u00a0However, chemotherapy also kills bone marrow which is responsible for producing blood cells and maintaining the immune system. \u00a0A stem cell transplant after chemotherapy helps to rebuild the immune system; however it is not without risks, primarily leaving the patient vulnerable to infection as their immune system becomes compromised. \u00a0Intensive chemotherapy is only considered as a treatment option when the benefits of the treatment outweigh the risks, something which the treating physician will discuss at the right time with the patient.<\/p>\n<p>There are different kinds of stem cell transplants, different sources of stem cells and tests which need to be performed to ascertain if the stem cells available are suitable to be transplanted to the patient (HLA matching).<\/p>\n<p>There are three sources of stem cells currently used for transplant, these are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bone Marrow \u2013 Bone marrow is found inside the bones, it is usually extracted from the hip ready for transplant.<\/li>\n<li>Peripheral Blood \u2013 Drugs are given to the donor (or patient) and stem cells are released into the blood stream which are harvested and processed ready for transplant later.<\/li>\n<li>Cord Blood \u2013 After the birth of a baby and after the cord has been cut, the remaining cord and placenta are taken away where the blood from the cord, which is naturally rich in stem cells, is procured.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are three different types of stem cell transplant:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Autologous \u2013 These transplants use the patient\u2019s own stem cells which have been stored prior to treatment. \u00a0They could be sourced from bone marrow, peripheral blood or umbilical cord blood. \u00a0The chance of these stem cells being rejected is minimal as the body recognises these cells as its own.<\/li>\n<li>Allogeneic \u2013 These transplants use stem cells from a donor. \u00a0The donor may be a family member or could even be a stranger who was found to be a match through a stem cell registry. \u00a0HLA matching reduces the chances of these stem cells being rejected by the patient\u2019s body.<\/li>\n<li>Syngeneic \u2013 These types of transplants are incredibly rare. \u00a0A syngeneic transplant uses stem cells from a donor; the donor and patient are siblings who are identical twins or triplets. \u00a0Due to the genetic make-up of identical siblings, the chances of rejection are greatly reduced than that of a regular donor and the patient\u2019s body should accept these stem cells willingly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>HLA matching is used when a patient requires stem cells from a donor; the matching process is to reduce the chances of the patient suffering post-transplant complications such as rejection of the donor stem cells. \u00a0When looking for a suitable match between donor and patient, doctors look at the 6 major human leukocyte antigen (HLA) proteins to try and find a match. \u00a0While a perfect match is ideal, in some cases a match of 5 out of 6 may be acceptable for stem cells from bone marrow and peripheral blood and 4 out of 6 for cord blood. \u00a0Because cord blood requires a minimum match of 4 out of 6 the HLA proteins, cord blood can be more easily matched between donors and patients.<\/p>\n<p>Racial and ethnic heritage also plays an important role in transplant medicine; you are more likely to find a stem cell match with someone who shares your racial heritage. \u00a0Mixed heritage and minority backgrounds are underserved in stem cell registries, making it more difficult for people in these communities to find a stem cell match. \u00a0An increase in cord blood banking and people joining the stem cell register from these communities could help those in need access transplant medicine.<\/p>\n<p>A stem cell match is most likely to be found within the family, cord blood banking could be a particularly astute choice for families from minority backgrounds or with mixed heritage.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field_image_miniblog\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week we are raising awareness of stem cell transplants. Stem cell transplants are most commonly used in the treatment of cancers and blood disorders including\u00a0leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and sickle cell disease. Intensive chemotherapy is sometimes used in the treatment of cancer as it kills cancer cells. \u00a0However, chemotherapy also kills bone marrow which is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cells4life.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}