The popularity of stem cell treatments has increased significantly, thanks to their high efficacy and recorded success rates of up to 80%. It is a modern type of regenerative medical treatment that uses a unique biological component called stem cells. Around 50,000 transplants are performed annually, and the number increases by 10-20% every year. More than 20,000 people have lived five years or more after having a stem cell transplant.
The effect means that certain types of transplants help kill cancer cells, in addition to rescuing the bone marrow and allowing normal blood cells to develop from stem cells. Preparatory chemotherapy and radiation together with post-transplant immunosuppression may induce severe pancytopenia in the first week after hematopoietic stem cell infusion, which can result in life-threatening infection. The mechanism of action of stem cell transplantation against malignancy in leukemia is based on the effect of graft and donor immunity against malignant cells in recipients. The use of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in clinical practice has expanded over the past decade, and many clinical trials are still underway to evaluate its effectiveness in different medical conditions.
Stem cells travel to the bone marrow, where they are engrafted or “removed” and begin to produce blood cells. After birth, blood remaining in the placenta and umbilical cord (known as cord blood) can be removed and stored for later use in a stem cell transplant. The process in which a loss of bone marrow function occurs after reconstitution after hematopoietic stem cell infusion or if there is no gain of function after infusion and is called graft failure or rejection. In addition, the role of stem cell transplantation in autoimmune diseases, such as systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus, is being explored, and promising results have already been shown in cases such as relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
For certain types of leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, a stem cell transplant may be an important part of treatment. Cell therapy, the transfer of human cells to heal or replace damaged tissue or cells, holds great promise for patients with cancer and other diseases. In hemoglobinopathies, transplanted stem cells produce functional cells after engraftment that replace diseased cells. Aplastic anemia, an autoimmune disease, causes white blood cells to attack blood stem cells, resulting in a low red blood cell, white blood cell, and platelet count.
While a stem cell transplant may help some patients, including giving some people a chance to heal, the decision to have a transplant is not an easy one. For example, the procedure consists of initial mobilization of stem cells, in which peripheral blood stem cells are collected given the low number and need for high levels of progeny cells, and then followed by a preparatory regimen and, finally, infusion. Studies have shown an increase in overall survival and progression-free survival in patients younger than 65 years of age when consolidation treatment with melphalan is initiated followed by autologous stem cell transplant and maintenance therapy with lenalidomide.
