Source: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Date: April 19, 2011
Summary:
An innovative experimental treatment for boosting the effectiveness of stem-cell transplants with umbilical cord blood has a favorable safety profile in long-term animal studies, report scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and Children's Hospital Boston (CHB).
Analysis of long-term safety testing in nonhuman primates, published online by the journal Cell Stem Cell, revealed that, after one year following transplant, umbilical cord blood units treated with a signaling molecule called 16,16-dimethyl PGE2 reconstituted all the normal types of blood cells, and none of the animals receiving treated cord blood units developed cancer.
