Bone Marrow Transplant Hope For Leukaemia Patients

Posted on April 11, 2008

A bone marrow transplant technique might be a life-saving treatment for some leukaemia patients reports the BBC. Cells in the newly transplanted bone marrow may help to kill the leukameia cells.

Some leukaemia patients who do not respond to conventional treatments may benefit from bone marrow transplants selected to target the cancer directly.
The technique, pioneered in Italy, uses transplants from family members who are not a perfect match.
"Natural killer" cells in the new bone marrow then attack the leukaemia.
Survival rates rose after the treatment, but UK experts say these need to be reproduced on a bigger scale and in different types of the disease.

Finding a donor is difficult because of rejection. Doctors have to look for a donor within the patient's family and even then they might not be able to find a match. About a third of the population will never be able to use the technique. However, it is an important breakthrough that will need to be vetted with more trials - it could be a livesaver for some lucky enough to find a donor. A spokesperson for the Leukaemia Research Fund said, "If you are in the position of a patient who has not responded to treatment, the choice between a 2% chance of survival and a 30% chance is not a difficult one."