StemCell Therapy

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 16:01 EST, 9 May 2012 | UPDATED: 01:37 EST, 10 May 2012

Stem cells have been transplanted into brain cancer patients for the first time in a bid to protect them against the toxic side effects of chemotherapy.

In a study involving three patients, scientists found that two of them survived longer than predicted following the surgery while the other has seen no disease progression after three years of treatment.

The study was carried out by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in the United States.

Breakthrough: Scientists have transferred stem cells into brain cancer sufferers in a bid to protect them against the harmful effects of chemotherapy

The centre's Dr Hans-Peter Kiem said: 'We found that patients were able to tolerate the chemotherapy better and without negative side effects after transplantation of the gene-modified stem cells.

'This compares with patients in previous studies who received the same type of chemotherapy without a transplant of gene-modified stem cells.'

Dr Kiem added that a major barrier to effective use of chemotherapy to treat cancers such as glioblastoma, which all three patients had, has been the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs to other organs, primarily bone marrow.

This results in decreased blood cell counts, increased susceptibility to infections and other side effects.

The rest is here:
Stem cells jab 'helps brain cancer patients tolerate chemotherapy'

This entry was posted on May 11, 2012 at 8:14 am and is filed under Stem Cell Negative. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |