Are you aware that an allogeneic bone marrow transplant is a highly effective treatment for blood cancers and genetic blood cell diseases? It has become the standard therapy for these conditions, offering hope to many patients.
Allogeneic bone marrow transplant has become a blessing for millions of people worldwide who desire to get complete cures for their blood cancers.
You will be surprised to note that the transferred stem cells not only produce new healthy blood cells in your body but also help suppress the growth of cancerous cells completely – a phenomenon known as the graft-versus-leukemia effect. There are several advantages of allogeneic bone marrow transfer. Let’s know more about them.
What is Allogeneic Transplantation?
Allogeneic transplantation, also known as allogeneic stem cell transplantation, is a medical procedure that involves replacing a person’s stem cells with healthy stem cells obtained from a donor or donated umbilical cord blood.
Once transplanted, these healthy cells will migrate to the bone marrow and take over the function of your stem cells, ultimately developing into all components of the blood and immune system, including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
What are the Preparation and Procedure for an Allogeneic Transplantation?
Before the transplant, you typically undergo chemotherapy or a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This treatment is crucial as it serves to eliminate cancer cells and create space in the bone marrow for the new donated stem cells. Additionally, it reduces the likelihood of your immune system rejecting the donor’s cells.
The actual transplant involves infusing the new stem cells into the recipient’s bloodstream through a tube or port, a procedure similar to a blood transfusion and known as infusion.
1. Donor Selection and Matching:
The selection of a suitable donor is a critical aspect of the transplant process. Donors can be unrelated individuals or family members, such as siblings, parents, or children. The matching process involves identifying donors whose immune genes closely match those of the recipient. This matching is essential to minimize the risk of rejection and improve the success of the transplant.
In cases where a fully matched donor is not available, alternative options such as haploidentical donors, partially matched unrelated donors, or cord blood transplants may be considered.
2. Donated Cells Treatment:
The cells collected from the donor, known as the graft, may undergo processing in the laboratory before being transplanted. This can involve techniques such as T cell depletion to remove immune cells that may attack the recipient’s body, graft engineering to enhance the effectiveness of the donor’s cells, or donor lymphocyte infusions to prevent cancer recurrence and bolster the recipient’s immune system.
3. HLA Typing in Allogeneic Transplantation:
In allogeneic transplantation, HLA (human leukocyte antigen) typing plays a crucial role in assessing and matching donors for the transplant. HLA are proteins found on most cells in the body and are essential for determining the compatibility between the recipient and the donor.
The process of HLA typing involves identifying the specific HLA markers present in the cells of both the recipient and potential donors. This matching is vital to minimize the risk of graft rejection and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after the transplant.
The degree of HLA matching between the recipient and the donor significantly impacts the outcomes of related and unrelated donor hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT)
High-resolution HLA typing is often recommended to ensure the best results in unrelated allogeneic transplantation, particularly for patients with conditions like acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The presence of anti-HLA antibodies before and after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from HLA-mismatched unrelated donors has also been studied to understand its impact on the transplant process.
The National Marrow Donor Program and the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) have developed matching guidelines for allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation, emphasizing the importance of HLA assessment and matching in the transplant process.
In summary, HLA typing is a critical component of allogeneic transplantation, guiding the selection of suitable donors and contributing to the overall success of the transplant by ensuring compatibility and reducing the risk of complications.
Advantages of Cord Blood Transplantation
There are several advantages of cord blood transplantation as compared to other methods of allogeneic transplantation.
1. Availability and Speed:
Cord blood is readily available, often within 2 to 4 weeks, making it a valuable option for patients without a well-matched donor. This quick availability contrasts with the potential month-long wait for matched unrelated donor grafts.
2. Lower HLA Matching Requirement:
Cord blood may require a lower level of HLA matching between the donor and recipient, providing more flexibility in finding suitable matches.
3. Graft-Versus-Leukemia Effect:
Cord blood cells are effective in fighting cancer, contributing to the graft-versus-leukemia effect, which can help prevent the recurrence of cancer after the transplant.
Considerations and Challenges of Cord Blood Allogeneic Transplantation
Cord blood units may contain fewer stem cells, potentially leading to an increased risk of graft failure, particularly in individuals with larger body sizes.
Cord blood transplants can take longer to begin making new blood cells, leaving the patient vulnerable to infections and other complications due to low blood cell counts.
The less strict matching requirement between cord blood donation and the patient’s immune system allows for greater flexibility in finding suitable cord blood matches.
In summary, cord blood cells offer a valuable alternative in allogeneic transplantation, providing quicker availability, lower HLA matching requirements, and the potential for effective cancer treatment through the graft-versus-leukemia effect. However, considerations such as graft failure risk and delayed engraftment should be carefully evaluated.
Success Rate of Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant
The success rate of allogeneic stem cell transplantations varies depending on the specific blood cancers and blood disorders being treated. Recent studies have shown the following success rates:
- More than 80% of people with aplastic anemia are cured after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
- More than half of all people who received allogeneic stem cell transplantations for acute leukemia were treated successfully.
- Approximately 40% of people with myelodysplastic syndrome are cured after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
It’s important to note that the success rate is difficult to provide as an overall figure due to the wide range of conditions treated using allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Additionally, the success rate can be influenced by various factors such as the type of malignancy, the age of the recipient, the availability of a suitable donor, and the stage and status of the disease.
Overall, allogeneic stem cell transplantation has shown promising success rates in treating certain blood cancers and disorders, offering a potential cure for a significant percentage of patients.
Role of MedicoExperts in arranging Allogenic Bone Marrow Transplant
MedicoExperts is an online virtual hospital that offers a platform for you to access expert guidance and potentially find more affordable avenues for your bone marrow transplant journey, aligning with both financial prudence and quality healthcare.
When it comes to arranging an allogeneic bone marrow transplant, MedicoExperts can assist patients in every aspect of care. They have a dedicated network of healthcare service agencies empaneled with the best hospitals across India, with world-class expertise in cancer care and bone marrow transplantation.
It is important to note that allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is a procedure in which stem cells are removed from another person, called a donor, and transplanted into the recipient. It is most likely that a brother or sister will be a good match, but parents, children, and other relatives can sometimes be a good match as well.
MedicoExperts, through their network of hospitals and experts, can assist in the diagnosis of the patient and determine the type of bone marrow transplant procedure that is fit for the treatment. Allogenic bone marrow transplant is one of the common procedures performed, along with autologous bone marrow transplant and others.
After the transplant, close medical care is required. You will be monitored carefully for signs of complications, and frequent blood tests and appointments will be conducted to monitor the body’s response to the transplant. It takes a few weeks for the donor cells to settle in your bone marrow and begin making new cells. Blood transfusions may be given until your bone marrow recovers.
Conclusion
Allogenic bone marrow transplant involves collecting cells from the donor. Unlike autologous bone marrow transplants which only require your own bone marrow cells for transfer, allogenic transfer is associated with the risk of graft rejection.
Intensive testing and donor cell matching are an integral part of allogeneic bone marrow transplants.
It requires the expertise of the biomedical technicians as well as the strong decisive power of the hemato-oncologist to perform successful allogeneic transplants. It has to be remembered that donor cells in allogeneic transplants are all healthy cells and can play a bigger role in cancer suppression and the production of normal blood cells.
In short, allogeneic transplants play a major role in curing various blood cancers and disorders and can be a very effective solution in treating otherwise incurable leukemia and lymphomas.
FAQ’s
Q1. What is an allogeneic unrelated bone marrow transplant?
When bone marrow cells are taken from an unrelated donor or cord blood cells then it is an unrelated bone marrow transplant.
Q2. Why is allogeneic better?
Allogeneic is better for two reasons. One reason is that it involves the transfer of all healthy cells and the second reason is that it can transfer immunocompetent cells from the donor which can fight against cancer- also known as graft versus malignancy effect.
Q3. What are the risks of an allogeneic transplant?
The main risk of an allogeneic transplant is graft versus host disease or graft rejection by the recipient’s body.
