In a favorable advancement in the health field, a new process may soon eradicate most cases of sickle cell disease in adults. The New England Journal of Medicine reported earlier this week that 9 out of 10 sickle cell disease patients who were given a blood stem-cell transplant regimen had a complete reversal of the disease.
The process also combined radiation treatment with two immune-suppressing drugs. This allowed the healthy donor stem cells to produce new, healthy cells with no contradictions. The entire regimen was followed for a course of two and a half years before reports were given. This blood stem-cell transplant regimen for adults is considered to be non-toxic and by far safer than a method that has proven to work for children.
In an earlier study, almost 200 children suffering from sickle cell disease were cured with bone marrow transplants. First, the children went through chemotherapy to destroy their own bone marrow then received the transplant. According to the National Institutes of Health, this process is too toxic for adults, as adults tend to have accumulated damage in the organs from the disease.
In order to achieve a successful blood stem-cell transplant, the recipient must have a matching donor. Finding an “good match” donor for an African-American patient is less likely than for a Caucasian patient, but physicians hope that this study will open the door to more options, such as a “half-match.”
Comments