Graft-Versus-Host-Disease News

Graft-Versus-Host-Disease News

Several forms of cancer are treated with blood stem cell transplants. When the donor is unrelated to the patient, the patient frequently develops graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), in which the stem cells attack healthy cells as well as cancerous ones. Researchers have shown that removing the immune cells (T-cells) from the stem cell transplant reduces the risk of acute GVHD, though it does not reduce the incidence of chronic GVHD. The study is reported on the Cancer Consultants website.

So here we see a situation where the body’s immune system response makes the use of adult stem cells problematic. Removing the T-cells helped with the worst forms of the GVHD, but not overall with the condition. This suggests that adult stem cell transplants from genetically dissimilar individuals are not going to be a problem-free cure to caner anytime soon, and research needs to continue on several fronts. Embryonic stem cells seem promising, but I do wonder if cells cloned from the individual with cancer would be cells likely to develop into cancers themselves; the etiology of the cancer is a key component to effective stem cell treatment.