The success of blood stem cell transplants used to treat diseases such as leukemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and aplastic anemia may soon become more predictable, thanks to a discovery made by researchers at the University of British Columbia.
Donor blood stem cells -- cells that can produce red and white blood cells and platelets -- are injected into a recipient to produce new blood.
UBC scientists have identified a “molecular flag” that can help determine if T-cells – cells that drive the body’s immune response – will be produced by the thymus following a blood stem cell transplant. T-cell progenitors, or master cells, are manufactured in bone marrow but must migrate to the thymus, an organ located near the heart, in order to mature into functional T-cells.
A common problem with blood stem cell transplants is the failure of progenitor cells to repopulate the thymus and generate T-cells. Without T-cells the patient is unable to fight infection and post-transplant prognosis is poor.
“We now have a signal that gives us critical information about how the body will respond to blood stem cell transplants,” says principal investigator Fabio Rossi, UBC assistant professor of medical genetics and Canada Research Chair in Regenerative Medicine. “This gives us a molecular handle on whether the thymus will be receptive to migrating T-cell progenitors.”